The essay investigates Frank O'Hara's years at Harvard under the guide of John Ciardi and Renato Poggioli. It shows how Ciardi's style and literary theory paved the way for O'Hara's personism. More specifically, the lyrical play "Change Your Bedding!," which O'Hara dedicated to his mentor and his wife, exemplifies the peculiar strategy of indirection experimented by the New York Poets in their lyrical autobiographies.
