It is believed that this writing was a form of catharsis for Sharon Olds, as a way to work through issues from her own personal childhood, although she has never verified it. This free verse poem has next to no structure or rhyme scheme. The sentences are broken up, which is representative of the overall chaotic, confused feeling of the author as wrote this poem, running the scenario through her mind.
Sharon Olds uses imagery, symbolism and repetition in the poem “I Go Back to May 1937” to convey the emotional damages inflicted upon children by parents who are suffering through an unhappy marriage due to the expectations and pressure of societal norms that revolved around families in the 1930’s. This emotionally powered poem leads us to question …show more content…
In this statement, the wrought-iron gate represents the imprisoned feeling her future marriage will bring to her. The fact that the gate is still open behind her, it shows that storyline has not yet been set in stone for her and that the future could be anything that she wants it to be.
Our narrator comes to the realization that if she is successful in preventing her parent's marriage, and any future pregnancies between them, she would cease to exist. Deciding that she wants to live, she knows that she must let the relationship play out although she is aware of what the future will bring. Olds then uses a simile to portray the sexual relations between her parents, proving that she has accepted all of her future, so she proceeds to: Take them up like the male and female paper dolls and bang them together at the hips, like chips of flint, as if
Sharon Olds uses imagery, symbolism and repetition in the poem “I Go Back to May 1937” to convey the emotional damages inflicted upon children by parents who are suffering through an unhappy marriage due to the expectations and pressure of societal norms that revolved around families in the 1930’s. This emotionally powered poem leads us to question …show more content…
In this statement, the wrought-iron gate represents the imprisoned feeling her future marriage will bring to her. The fact that the gate is still open behind her, it shows that storyline has not yet been set in stone for her and that the future could be anything that she wants it to be.
Our narrator comes to the realization that if she is successful in preventing her parent's marriage, and any future pregnancies between them, she would cease to exist. Deciding that she wants to live, she knows that she must let the relationship play out although she is aware of what the future will bring. Olds then uses a simile to portray the sexual relations between her parents, proving that she has accepted all of her future, so she proceeds to: Take them up like the male and female paper dolls and bang them together at the hips, like chips of flint, as if