Sharon Olds writes her poems in a way that establishes intimate connection with the reader and creates deep meanings. Old’s graphically express her personal and emotional family life in her poems. Sharon Old’s uses methods of literary techniques such as metaphor, repetition, alliteration, imagery and symbolism to convey meaning in her poems. Old’s poems, The victims,One Year, The Race, and The Daughter Goes Camp have different meanings that reflects on her life. Olds use of the literary techniques help the reader understand and connect to the poem making it easier to find the meaning. In her Poem, “The Victim”, Old uses different literary techniques to create the meaning of the poem, which is every single family member suffers when divorce …show more content…
Old's dragging her hand over the taxi seat where her daughter was sitting gives a visual of her longing for her daughter. Olds word choices such as, “strong little hand” gives a strong emotional feeling of mother's view of her child. Olds uses repartition for the word “find” emphinessis Olds yearning for her daughter physically present next to her. Even though Old longs for her daughter's presence she still accepts her daughter growing up and becoming independent. This is shown in the metaphor that contain symbolism where she says,“eyes dark with massed crystals like the/magnified scales of a butterfly's wing” ( …show more content…
While she was there she sees some ants that are burying a dead ant, but unlike her who can't let go of her father's death, they dump the body than leave.The meaning of this poem is about how letting loved ones go is hard, but eventually they have to let go because life is still going to continue. Olds uses imagery to emphasize how much sorrow she was feeling. “I took some tears from my jaw and neck and started to wash a corner of his stone”(4-5).By using her tears to clean the stone, she is expressing the great love and compassion she has for her father. Olds uses symbolism when she was describing the ants going to bury the dead one “another ant hauled a dead/ant onto the stone, leaving it, and not coming back.”(8-9) The ants symbolize life as they keep moving and living their life no matter what happens. They do not hold on to those that are dead since life will always continue. Another symbol is when the ants are moving on the name of grave stone
She starts by telling us what she thinks the dead are doing. She is putting this picture in the reader’s head of dead down by the river drinking to start out the poem. The second line and the beginning of the third line talking about unburdening themselves of their fears and worries for us makes the reader think of someone that has passed that they knew. By saying this, she is trying to get the point across that the dead are thinking of us, like we think of them. The thought of the dead still caring and worried about us will later be strengthened in the poem when the writer starts using memories in the poem. Mitchell then says “They take out the old photographs.” she starts using memories to start making feelings more deep. Lines four and five continue this, stating “They pat the lines in our hands and tell our futures, which are cracked and yellow.”. These lines contain a metaphor comparing our futures to something cracked and yellow. Her directly stating that our futures are cracked and yellow, gives a very depressing vibe. This is foreshadowing that she is depressed about something, that we will later find about at the end of the poem. In the first five lines of the poem, the writer is talking about the the dead and what they are doing. Even though she doesn’t really know what they are doing, she puts a picture in our
In this poem, “On the Subway”, written by Sharon Olds brings two worlds into proximity. We will identify the contrast that develops both portraits in the poem and discuss the insights the narrator comes to because of the experience. The author refers to several literary techniques as tone, poetic devices, imagery, and organization. The poem talks about a historical view based on black and white skin. It positions the two worlds the point of view of a black skinned and a white skinned. The boy is described as having a casual cold look for a mugger and alert under the hooded lids. On the other hand, based on his appearance the white skinned person felt threatened by the black boy. She was frightened that he could take her coat, brief case, and
Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, in their poems “We Real Cool” and “Summer Words of a Sistuh Addict”, are both alike in their idea of dealing with troubled youth. Brooks discusses in her poem “We Real Cool” rebellious pool-playing youth that “sing sin” (Line 5) and “thin gin.” (Line 6) The whole poem centers around disturbed youth. The narrator in Sonia Sanchez’s poem “Summer Words of a Sistuh Addict”, is also a disturbed young woman who is addicted to heroin, and seems to live a rather rebellious lifestyle. In addition, both of these poems use tone via word choice, sentence structure, and meter in order to vividly describe the scenarios in their poems, and to impact their reader. However, both poets use the literary elements mentioned above differently in their poems.
Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, who we are as adults is very much determined (or influenced) by the experiences that we live through during childhood. These experiences and relationships that we have at such a young age can shape who we are going to be for the rest of our lives. Sharon Olds is a great poet who dives very deeply into her own memories, particularly ones of her childhood, to figure out what they actually mean to her. In doing this, Sharon Olds writes some pretty edgy poems that can make people cringe from the extreme amount of sexual details and emotion that comes with them. The main ideas of these poems can range anywhere from the glass that the speaker’s father is spitting into before he dies (The Glass) to the speaker and a significant other considering suicide at a restaurant (The Promise). This is what makes her an awesome poet though; she digs through her memory to find the experiences that had the biggest impression on her life, evaluates them, and then unashamedly tells about every detail. While writing in this way, Sharon Olds has an amazing ability to point out social inequalities to the reader. These inequalities are specifically pertaining to the patriarchy that we live in today and what effect it has on femininity and masculinity, especially speaking in terms of father/ daughter relationships. The memories she writes about are all very personal and tell of many family problems that she had at the time of her childhood and adolescence. Whether it be the speaker and her sister playing with dolls while their parents fought (The Pact), the speaker remembering when her mother divorced her father (The Victims), the speaker telling about her feelings when her father died (The Feelings), or when t...
In “Late Poem to My Father” by Sharon Olds, the speaker, who is likely a stand-in for Olds herself, takes us through the relationship her father had with her grandfather. She then relates this to her relationship with her father. Starting with the title, the word “Late” could suggest that the father has died or it could suggest how she didn’t fully value her father’s love until recently. The poem is written in free verse with no particular pattern or rhyme scheme. There are no stanza breaks, but there is a lot of enjambment throughout the poem. Olds’s syntax and placement of enjambment compliments the poem the whole way through. The first word of the poem is “Suddenly”, as if she hadn’t thought of her father in a long time. The poem can be
Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.
On the most basic level, Hogan’s poems lead themselves to personal interpretations of conception and expression. Opening with lines so broadly relatable, such as “It was a time before / I was born. / I was thin. / I was hungry. I was / only a restlessness inside a woman’s body” (“Tear” 1-5) Hogan succeeds draws the reader into that world of hunger, of desperation, and of uncertainty for nothing is quite as captivating as the human experience. From the very beginning, the reader relates and sees personal experiences within her woven words. Relating to the emotions premating off her memories takes down a barrier as connections are made across individuals. However, it is apparent her words are digging at something else as well. This desperation cannot be assumed results from only extrinsic influence. The depth of Hogan’s words reach deeper, past the external, the hardened barriers warped through imbalanced privilege and hi...
As one of America’s leading contemporary poet’s, Sharon Olds is known for the intense personal and emotional poetry that she writes. Her ability to intimately and graphically divulge details of her personal life allows readers to delve into the deepest parts of not only her mind, but of their own as well. Sharon Olds uses her writing to allow readers to experience the good and bad of life through her eyes, yet allows readers the interpretive freedom to define her works as they fit into their own lives. Olds’ ability to depict both wonderful and tragic events in stories such as “First Thanksgiving” and “Still Life in Landscape”with beautifully gruesome clarity allow readers a gritty real-life experience unlike any other.
Although the little girl doesn’t listen to the mother the first time she eventually listens in the end. For example, in stanzas 1-4, the little girl asks if she can go to the Freedom March not once, but twice even after her mother had already denied her the first time. These stanzas show how the daughter is a little disobedient at first, but then is able to respect her mother’s wishes. In stanzas 5 and 6, as the little girl is getting ready the mother is happy and smiling because she knows that her little girl is going to be safe, or so she thinks. By these stanzas the reader is able to tell how happy the mother was because she thought her daughter would be safe by listening to her and not going to the March. The last two stanzas, 7 and 8, show that the mother senses something is wrong, she runs to the church to find nothing, but her daughter’s shoe. At this moment she realizes that her baby is gone. These stanzas symbolize that even though her daughter listened to her she still wasn’t safe and is now dead. The Shoe symbolizes the loss the mother is going through and her loss of hope as well. This poem shows how elastic the bond between the daughter and her mother is because the daughter respected her mother’s wish by not going to the March and although the daughter is now dead her mother will always have her in her heart. By her having her
Elizabeth Bishop’s Sestina is a short poem composed in 1965 centered on a grandmother and her young grandchild. Bishop’s poem relates to feelings of fate, detriment, and faith that linger around each scene in this poem. There are three views in which we are being narrated in this story; outside of the house, inside of the house, and within the picture the grandchild draws. The progression of the grandmother’s emotions of sadness and despair seen in stanza one to a new sense of hope in stanza six are what brings this complex poem to life. Bishop’s strong use of personification, use of tone, and choice of poetic writing all are crucial in relaying the overall message. When poetry is named after its form, it emphasizes what the reader should recognize
When writing poetry, there are many descriptive methods an author may employ to communicate an idea or concept to their audience. One of the more effective methods that authors often use is linking devices, such as metaphors and similes. Throughout “The Elder Sister,” Olds uses linking devices effectively in many ways. An effective image Olds uses is that of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) providing a link to the mother’s expectations for her children. She also uses images of water and fluidity to demonstrate the natural progression of a child into womanhood. Another image is that of the speaker’s elder sister as a metaphorical shield, the one who protected her from the mental strain inflicted by their mother.
“On the Subway,” by Sharon Olds as she contrasts the two worlds of a wealthy Caucasian and a indigent African-American. The Caucasian narrator, a female, describes how this black man appears to her as she fears for her life as if he is ready to prey on her. She brings two worlds from different backgrounds together through the use of imagery and fearful and hopeful tones.
In Sharon Olds poem, “35/10,” a story is told with the writer speaking through the mother. The poem was about a mother, perhaps a little envious of her daughter. The title of the poem symbolizes the ages of the mother and daughter, the mother being 35 and the daughter being 10. I feel the writer uses imagery when she talks about the mother brushing her daughter’s hair. I visualize the mother and daughter sitting in the daughter’s room, at a white vanity, brushing her hair. As she looks in the mirror at her daughter, the mother realizes that as she is getting older and maybe less attractive, her daughter is starting to bloom into beautiful, young women.
Fear is an amazing emotion, in that it has both psychological as well as physiological effects on the human body. In instances of extreme fear, the mind is able to function in a way that is detached and connected to the event simultaneously. In “Feared Drowned,” Sharon Olds presents, in six brief stanzas, this type of instance. Her sparse use of language, rich with metaphors, similes and dark imagery, belies the horror experienced by the speaker. She closes the poem with a philosophical statement about life and the after-effects that these moments of horror can have on our lives and relationships.
The poem "The Race" by Sharon Olds depicts a woman struggling to overcome the obstacles that are set before her so that she can spend her father's last moments with him. Through her use of repetition and alliteration she is able to convey the daughters anxiousness to her audience.