Your Neighborhood at a Glance: The Poetry of NYC
New York City has been the home and inspiration to some of the greatest poets throughout history. Walt Whitman described his first sighting of the Brooklyn Bridge as “the best, most effective medicine my soul has yet partaken.” Kenneth Koch, Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery, names from the surrealist New York School of poets of the 1960s, all wrote poetry while employed at the Museum of Modern Art’s front desk.
Many of the landmarks, homes, and frequented establishments of these poets still stand in New York City today. Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ former home in Harlem can be currently visited at 20 East 127th Street. The Cherry Lane Theater, New York’s longest continuously running Off-Broadway theater, was founded by Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1924.
Here are some additional famous poet landmarks around NYC. Don’t worry, no poetic license necessary:
Edgar Allan Poe moved to New York in 1844 in pursuit of success, and he certainly found it. He first lived in Greenwich Village, near Washington Square Park, at 130 Greenwich Street, but soon moved uptown to West 84th Street, which was at the time countryside. It was at 215 West 84th Street where Poe completed his most famous work, The Raven. It was also known that a section of Riverside Park known as Mt Tom was one of his favorite spots in the city. After his success, he moved back downtown to the site at 85 West 3rd Street, on which now stands the NYU School of Law’s Furman Hall. Eventually, Poe moved to the Bronx countryside into a small cottage where he wrote several more acclaimed works. The cottage still stands today and tours are offered.
Emma Lazarus penned the iconic words that are at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Words that have become synonymous with the American Dream and New York City. A plaque with those words also adorns Lazarus’ former home at 18 West 10th Street and her memorial in Battery Park.
Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet who became well known among other famous creative-types while living in New York City. For instance, in 1950, Thomas performed a reading at the 92nd Street Y to an audience that included E.E. Cummings, who he befriended. Thomas lived at the Chelsea Hotel and he frequented many pubs and taverns in the area, his favorite famously being the White Horse Tavern, which stands as one of the city’s oldest venues still open for business today. The legend has it that Thomas claimed to have downed 18 whiskeys there one night in November in 1953, after which he was taken unconcious to a hospital and died.
The Beat Movement of the 1950s was a group of poets centered around New York’s Columbia University who were all drawn together by their discontent with mainstream culture and politics. Primary figures in the movement included Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Ginsberg lived in many apartments throughout the East Village, his mark in the neighborhood is still evident in events like the Howl! Festival in Thompkins Square Park held every summer.
(partial reference: nycgo.com)