Sharon Olds

A variety of emotions are on display throughout the poetry of Sharon Olds. As a narrative poet she’s extremely self aware and is able to use personal experiences that are relatable to anyone. Richard Silberg has praised her for “taking on subjects not written before, or not written in these ways….the best of these poems have a density of inspiration line by line” (Poetry Foundation). This style allows her to connect with her audience in a such a way that one would think they are reading a poem about themselves or their families. “First Thanksgiving,” “Still Life in Landscape,” “After Making Love in the Winter,” and “The Planned Child” use a similar, cathartic tone while telling a different story. Her topics aren’t overly creative, but…

writer adds his or her own twist. For example, “Last Night” by Sharon Olds and “Cherrylog Road” by James Dickey deals with the same theme but are two different pieces of writing. They explore the theme of forbidden love and use imagery to show the lust between the two characters. In this essay I will compare and contrast the two poems by presenting different examples. Titles can say a lot about a poem. Although titles can sometimes be misleading, they often establish the setting or portray…

the way Fay was raised, her set of values was different compared to Laurel’s. There is no way to say what is completely right or how to raise your children. However Fay was raised is how she became her adult self, she learned by seeing and doing and Laurel could have learned the same way but in a different environment. How people act and think was taught to them by someone else and they have free will to change their course of thought or stick with what they learned. Another way people…

Alas, “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds provides a historical point-of-view of how Whites have, and still continue to, regard African-Americans. Expressly, with figurative language, and tone, the reader gets to experience, first hand, the thoughts of a young privileged woman. Notably, the author uses a whole lot of similes to describe the differences between the African American stranger sitting across from the white woman. The lady says he is “in black sneakers laced with white in a complex…

In “On the Subway” the author, Sharon Olds, makes the characters doubt about each other. Through time and and point of view we know more about the characters and how the feel towards each other. At the beginning of the story, the lady is describing the boy because of how he has “intentional scars.” Which are scars he would get probably because of mistreatment he would have. She believes he's a thief because of “the casual cold look of a mugger” he has. The lady is immediately judging the boy…

“On the Subway”, by Sharon Olds shares with us the readers the similarities and differences in the poem between the life of a Caucasian person and that of an African American person. Sharon Olds uses a variety of literary techniques such as a tone, poetic devices, imagery, and organization. You can see very clear the literary terms used as follows. Sharon Olds utilizes a lot of imagery in the poem, most vividly dark and light as well as animals to contrast the two characters she uses in the…

Life of Sharon Olds “When Mother divorced you, we were glad.” (The Victims) Even in this single line from Sharon Olds’s, “The Victims,” one can immediately grasp the loaded emotion and implications through her simple word choice and “…intensely personal voice….” (Gale) Her “…strength as a poet lies in her persistent and frank use of erotic imagery...she writes about pain, anger, violence, death, and love” (Stone) and “…has been linked with the confessional poets of the mid-twentieth century….”…

Matrimony, monogamy, and children either leads to happiness, hardship, or usually a combination of both. Sharon Olds’ touches these subjects in her poem “Station.” To fully understand the deeper meanings within the poem one must understand that Olds’ 35-year marriage was strained to the point of divorce, and that this poem records an event that occurs towards the beginning of this strain. She uses her husband’s description and their interaction as a canvas to paint her subject matter into…

In the poem “ On the Subway”, Sharon olds brings into the world, ebony and white. Sharon olds uses imagery, tone , and poetic contrivances establish the contracts on the two worlds. Firstly, imagery is a literacy contrivance used to demonstrate , how both “black and white” are different. For example, the ebony side has an appearance of “casual cold look of a mugger” ; meanwhile, the white side having “ dark fur…. My fur coat ”. The contrast is on their appearance with ebony being malefactors…

finally begin to fully understand it. People can go from strangers to finally meeting, acquaintences, lovers, friends, enemies, and even soulmates. You never realize when it will end or what will come in between the two. The poem by Sharon Olds is a story about her parents and how she wishes they did not meet one another. She starts off by imagining her parents "standing at the formal gates of their colleges" and describes the gates they exit from. The parents both make their way out from…