Sharon Olds

Many passages, poems, and stories give different meanings to their choice of words. In” On the Subway” Sharon Olds uses three different literary techniques. She portrays how two cultures are very different through point of view, symbolism, and imagery. Sharon writes about how two different people are so different yet close to each other. They are demonstrated through first person point of view. “The boy and i faced each other” shows how the speaker is using “I” which gives off as first person.…

In this great poem the first question Sharon Olds ask is, "How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?" (Olds 1).Sharon Olds requests that the reader consider in her lyric "Sex Without Love" (958). Sharon Olds has been commended as one of America's most blunt writers at chronicling familial and sensual connections. All through Olds' verse, she enlightens a promise to composing of the body to uncover an assortment of troublesome subjects. Through Olds' utilization of incongruity, free…

a story in itself. Many poets throughout the world use many ways to express there emotions and this is exactly what Sharon Olds has done here with the poem “Life and landscape”. Olds uses a very specific way to express her emotions so that that everyone reading can get a first person view of what exactly is happening, this is called violent Imagery. Violent imagery is a source Olds uses in many of her poems to catch the attention of the reader…

In the poem, "The Race" by Sharon Olds, there is a sense of urgency and desperation in the character's motives and actions. Olds achieves this by use of atmosphere and tone as the main character fumbles around an airport. Throughout the poem, the main character is rushing through an airport due to a cancelled flight. She is later encountered by a man with a dark blonde mustache in lines 5-8, "...told me another airline had a non-stop leaving in seven minutes." Later guider with an assortment…

“The Victims” “The Victims” by Sharon Olds is written about a child that holds a heavy hate towards their father. Through the use of diction, Sharon Olds creates a tone of resentment in “The Victims”. The tone is set through both the connotation and denotation behind the specific words that she uses. Olds creatively practices these tools when she changes the construction of the language about half way through the poem. The beginning of the poem is written from the perspective of a child,…

In her poem, "The Race", Sharon Olds employs tone and imagery to convey the significance of family and illustrate the internal impact caused by the potential loss of a loved one. At first, Olds introduces a chaotic and rushed tone. The foreboding phrase recounting the doctors' belief that her father 'would not live through the night', immediately sets a depressing tone. Despite being the introduction of the poem, the reader's hope for the father is immediately crushed. Yet, despite such a…

What what she calls True Love In the poem “True Love” written by Sharon Olds, Olds writes about what true love and the experience of having it. Olds describes her late night thoughts on love about the one she loves and the life she lives with that particular person. Through subtle symbols and the repetition and pattern of the last line and poem overall, Olds true love is about being one rather than being one and how sometimes, she misses being her own person but she sacrifices for the true love…

In “on the subway,” by Sharon Olds, the speaker is a white woman questioning her safety with a young black male. This poem emphasizes the current standings of white and clack colored people. The author does this by the use of tone, imagery, and organization. The use of tone in this poem is through the eyes of the woman. As she sits in the subway car she notices a young black male. He has done nothing to her, nor has he said anything to her, but she continues to judge him for the red color he is…

In the poem, “Rite of Passage”, Sharon Olds demonstrates the theme of how young boys are influenced to take on aggressive roles as they age. The narrator observes his or her child’s birthday party, and he or she is introduced to the boy’s violent thinking. The boys all seem to think they must be tougher than the others. The children are only in first grade, but “they stand around jostling, jockeying for place” in order to assert their dominance (line 6-7). The narrator observes the children…

Poets such as Sharon Olds and Andrew Marvell view love and relationships differently. These poets reveal this through their tone and diction throughout their poems. Sharon Olds describes love and relationships as being intimate on an emotional level with a loved one. However, Andrew Marvell’s perception on love and relationships is seen as having sexual intercourse early because there is no time to be wasted on romance. The truth is that love is not always what it seems to be. Sometimes one…