"The Day Lady Died" is a celebrated poem from Frank O'Hara's classic collection Lunch Poems (1964). An unconventional elegy for the jazz singer Billie Holiday (a.k.a. "Lady Day"), it dates to the actual day of her death: July 17, 1959. Its speaker, O'Hara himself, narrates the mundane things he was doing—lunching, shopping, etc.—before he noticed Holiday's photo in a tabloid and learned she had passed away. The poem ends with a tribute to her music: a memory of a performance that left the audience breathless.

• Read the full text of “The Day Lady Died”

• “The Day Lady Died” Summary

• “The Day Lady Died” Themes

  • 

    Loss, Mourning, and Memory

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-29
  • 

    The Transformative Power of Art

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 8-10
    • Lines 14-19
    • Lines 22-23
    • Lines 25-29
  • 

    Celebrity, Consumerism, and American Culture

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Line 3
    • Lines 8-10
    • Lines 14-29

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Day Lady Died”

  • Lines 1-3

    It is 12:20 ...
    ... it is 1959

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

    and I go ...
    ... will feed me

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-10

    I walk up ...
    ... doing these days

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-13

    I go on ...
    ... in her life

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-18

    and in the GOLDEN ...
    ... of Genet,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-19

    but I don’t, ...
    ... sleep with quandariness

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 20-25

    and for Mike ...
    ... face on it

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-29

    and I am ...
    ... I stopped breathing

    

    

    

    

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• “The Day Lady Died” Symbols

  • 

    Breathing

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 28-29: “while she whispered a song along the keyboard / to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing”

• “The Day Lady Died” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-9: “I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun    / and have a hamburger and a malted and buy / an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING”
    • Line 25: “and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it”
    • Lines 26-29: “and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of / leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT / while she whispered a song along the keyboard / to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-29

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 3
    • Lines 6-15
    • Lines 20-21
    • Lines 26-29

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Friday / three”
    • Lines 2-3: “yes / it”
    • Lines 3-4: “shoeshine / because”
    • Lines 4-5: “Easthampton    / at”
    • Lines 5-6: “dinner / and”
    • Lines 7-8: “sun    / and”
    • Lines 8-9: “buy / an”
    • Lines 9-10: “poets    / in”
    • Lines 11-12: “bank / and”
    • Lines 13-14: “life    / and”
    • Lines 14-15: “Verlaine    / for”
    • Lines 15-16: “do    / think”
    • Lines 16-17: “or    / Brendan”
    • Lines 17-18: “Nègres / of”
    • Lines 18-19: “Verlaine / after”
    • Lines 20-21: “LANE / Liquor”
    • Lines 21-22: “and    / then”
    • Lines 22-23: “Avenue    / and”
    • Lines 23-24: “and    / casually”
    • Lines 24-25: “carton / of”
    • Lines 26-27: “of / leaning”
    • Lines 27-28: “SPOT / while”
    • Lines 28-29: “keyboard / to”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “day, yes”
    • Line 12: “Stillwagon (first”
    • Line 16: “Hesiod, trans.”
    • Line 18: “Genet, but,” “don’t, I”
    • Line 25: “Picayunes, and”

• “The Day Lady Died” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Bastille day
  • Shoeshine
  • The 4:19
  • Easthampton
  • Sun
  • Malted
  • NEW WORLD WRITING
  • Ghana
  • Balance
  • The GOLDEN GRIFFIN
  • Verlaine
  • Patsy
  • Bonnard
  • Richmond Lattimore
  • Hesiod
  • Trans.
  • Brendan Behan
  • Genet
  • Les Nègres
  • Le Balcon
  • Quandariness
  • PARK LANE Liquor Store
  • Strega
  • 6th Avenue
  • Tobacconist
  • Ziegfeld Theatre
  • Gauloises
  • Picayunes
  • NEW YORK POST
  • John
  • 5 SPOT
  • Mal Waldron
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “three days after Bastille day, yes”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Day Lady Died”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Day Lady Died” Speaker

• “The Day Lady Died” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Day Lady Died”

• More “The Day Lady Died” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Frank O'Hara reads "The Day Lady Died."

    • Holiday and Waldron on Record — Listen to a 1957 performance by Billie Holiday (with Mal Waldron on piano).

    • The Poet's Life — Read a short biography of Frank O'Hara at the Poetry Foundation.

    • "Lady Day" on Film — Watch a documentary about jazz singer Billie Holiday (the "Lady" of the title).

    • An Introduction to the New York School — A brief guide to the literary movement with which O'Hara is closely associated.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Frank O'Hara

    • Having a Coke with You

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