The Day Lady Died Themes
Mortality
"The Day Lady Died" has to be one of the most unusual elegies (a poem written mourning a deceased person) in modern poetry. The title couldn't be any clearer: this poem is about a person who has di...
Memory and the Past
"The Day Lady Died" is firmly rooted in the present moment, so much so that the O'Hara uses the present tense until the final stanza. But the past is lurking just behind the everyday activities and...
Society and Class
The speaker of "The Day Lady Died" is comes off as very "intellectual." He knows what to read, what plays to see, what music to listen to, and even what kinds of fancy foreign liquors to drink. Sop...
Art and Culture
The speaker is totally plugged into the New York City arts and cultural scene. He also follows the latest global trends, such as experimental French theater and the up-and-coming African literary m...