Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
first person speaker
Form and Meter
free verse
Metaphors and Similes
"it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still/ as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front it"
The speaker draws a parallel between his lover and the statues in the park to present an image of his lover's form and demeanor.
"in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth/ between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles"
The speaker describes the way he casually moves through the park with his lover by comparing to the way a tree moves gently in the wind.
Alliteration and Assonance
"or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona"
Repetition of "s" sounds
Irony
Genre
postmodern poetry; the New York School; Personism
Setting
a park, among birch trees and statues, in postwar New York City
Tone
loving, gentle, humorous
Protagonist and Antagonist
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the poem manifests in the speaker's attempt to find an apt comparison for the way he feels in the moment, when no work of art he's witnessed can match the beauty of his lover or the strength of his love.
Climax
The climax of the poem occurs when the speaker explicitly states the reasons why the great works of art he has seen pale in comparison to his lover:
"and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them/ when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank"
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
In the first two lines, San Sebastian, Irun, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne, and Barcelona are all cities in Spain.
St. Sebastian is a Christian saint and martyr, often depicted tied to a pillar or tree with arrows piercing his body.
The speaker frequently alludes to various artists and works of art, from the Renaissance to modernity. "Polish Rider" is a portrait of Rembrandt's, while "Nude Descending a Staircase" is a painting by Marcel Duchamp. Mario Marini is Italian sculptor, and the work O'Hara refers to is his 1936 sculpture "Rider," which depicts a man on a horse.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Personification
The speaker personifies the birch trees in the simile "like a tree breathing through its spectacles."
Hyperbole
The whole poem could be considered an example of hyperbole, since the speaker claims that a (to us) anonymous person is greater than all existing works of art.
