Yesterday Down at the Canal Frank OHaras use of voice
Perhaps the most vital element of a poem, is that of the voice evoked by the poet. ... The same holds true with the use of all other pronouns “we”, “you” etc. Frank O’Hara beautifully demonstrates the important role of voice in his poem “Yesterday Down At the Canal” from his collection Lunch Poems. Frank O’Hara manipulates and changes the voice numerous times throughout the poem. He begins in the first two lines by evoking a satirical voice aimed at supercilious, melodramatic readers: “You say that everything is very simple and interesting/ it makes me feel very wistful like reading a great/ Russian novel does” (lns1-3).