The Day Lady Died Essay Questions

"The Day Lady is Died" is set in New York City, in the middle of the summer. Why is this setting crucial to the poem's tone, atmosphere, and elegiac nature?

The poem's setting immediately establishes its tone and pace. It's common knowledge that New York is the City that never sleeps; likewise, a poem that takes place in New York City will embody its energy, immersing its readers in the atmosphere of its streets. O'Hara links the majority of his clauses with "and," creating the impression of a seamless series of actions through the poem. When the speaker recognizes Holiday's face on the New York Post, the present action pauses, emphasizing the degree to which this news disrupts the speaker's day. The power of the moment partly derives from the manner in which O'Hara sets the stage: the poem becomes an elegy through the way it dramatizes the impact of Holiday's death upon an individual.

How does O'Hara's decision to wait until the end of the poem to reveal Holiday's death challenge the expectations of an elegy?

While we know immediately from the title that the poem will describe the events of the day a woman died, we don't necessarily know who "Lady" is or how her death factors into the poem until the final stanza. With elegy, we typically know immediately who the poem memorializes, and the tone is overwhelmingly somber or reflective. By launching into the speaker's day instead, O'Hara places the reader in the speaker's shoes: after following the speaker's afternoon errands, we should be just as shocked by the headline as he is. Instead of crafting a poem that creates an abstract distance between the speaker and the person who is mourned, O'Hara forces the reader to experience Holiday's death as an event in real life, when the news is still fresh and raw.