Sharon+Olds

=**// By: Danette Thomas, B1 //**= Sharon Olds is one of contemporary poetry’s leading voices. Winner of several prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, Olds is known for writing intensely personal, emotionally scathing poetry which graphically depicts family life as well as global political events. Born in 1942 in San Francisco, Olds grew up in Berkeley, California where she was raised, she has said, as a “hellfire Calvinist.” She attended Stanford University and earned her Ph.D. at Columbia in 1972. She was thirty-seven when she published her first book of poems, Satan Says (1980). Over several volumes, Olds has carved out a unique place in contemporary American poetry. Steve Kowit noted that Olds “has become a central presence in American poetry, her narrative and dramatic power as well as the sheer imagistic panache of her work having won her a large following among that small portion of the general public that still reads verse. Olds’s poetry is known for its accessible and direct free verse style.



== In Sharon Olds poem //The Enchantment//, it is speaking of a young girl who asks her mother what she was like as a child. I can relate to this because I often ask my mom this question about how I was as a child. When I first read the title of the poem I thought the poem was going to be about something mythical. However, the title is referring to how she feels like her mother explains she acted as a child. In the poem you can tell that she is confused as to how her mother explains how she acted when she describes her as //enchanting.// This poem spoke to me on a deep level and makes me think about how I look to people and how people would describe me. The tone of it is warming and very loving. It’s as though Olds is speaking to the readers on a personal level about a personal experience. I also noticed that she used italics a lot in this poem. I think she used them to put emphasis on the words she felt was more important, or the words that she used to describe herself. This poem has a lot of irony an imagery and this helps to add more detail and meaning to this poem. I also like how she emphasizes that her mother says that she was enchanting rather than enchanted. Enchanted makes it present tense. This poem also seems more like a story than a poem and you can tell it has some type of meaning to the author. When she says such things as “that stunned look on my face” (line 14) helps readers to see that whatever was said reached the heart. The diction in the poem is also very interesting. The words Olds chooses to use, all of them bring some type of meaning to the poem. There is no regular meter, as she writes in free verse. I feel as though Sharon Olds is speaking about a personal account, and how people view us and also how we should view ourselves.



=I Could Not Tell by:Sharon Olds=

1I could not tell I had jumped off that bus, 2that bus in motion, with my child in my arms, 3because I did not know it. I believed my own story: 4I had fallen, or the bus had started up 5when I had one foot in the air.

6I would not remember the tightening of my jaw, 7the irk that I’d missed my stop, the step out 8into the air, the clear child 9gazing about her in the air as I plunged 10to one knee on the street, scraped it, twisted it, 11the bus skidding to a stop, the driver 12jumping out, my daughter laughing //13Do it again.//

14I have never done it 15again, I have been very careful. 16I have kept an eye on that nice young mother <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">17who lightly leapt <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">18off the moving vehicle <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">19onto the stopped street, her life <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">20in her hands, her life’s life in her hands. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> In Sharon Olds poem //I Could Not Tell//, it spoke to me in a sense of someone who is lost and does not know what is going on around them. Also, it seems as though she did some type of heroic act and does not want to admit to it. At the same time, maybe she did not realize that what was going on around her. Maybe she was distracted. I definitely can relate to this being someone who suffers from depression, I’m often finding myself trying to escape from reality and lost in my own thoughts. I think that is what this young mother was trying to do. Once again, I feel like this poem has many meanings and is told from a personal perspective. The tone of the poem is very dark and gloomy to me. With the imagery that is used, I can feel the emotions that the person most likely felt. There are examples of this in line 6 “tightening of my jaw’ and line 17 “who lightly leapt.” Olds uses free verse again in this poem, which is her style of writing. Olds writes in free verse to make her poems more understanding and connectable. This poem also talks in first person which is very significant for how a reader will be able to understand the poem. I also noticed that Olds uses italics for words that are spoken. Usually quotation marks are used and italics are used to emphasize words, but I think that Olds uses this method to emphasize that any word said is very important. However, this poem has a very good effect on me. I feel as though this poem is a very good one. Not just in the devices she uses but also in the way she uses them. This poem to me means that you really should pay attention or you will not be able to tell exactly what is going on around you. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">

In this poem, I feel as though once again Sharon Olds is speaking on a personal level. The title makes you think of an adult thinking back to the earliest memory they can remember. This is something that is common among people. It almost becomes a game, as to who can remember the furthest back in time. I can admit that I also do this. However, this is another free verse poem. This poem uses quite a bit of detail and imagery and once again this helps to give more meaning to the poem. In this poem, whether it is Olds personal experience or not, it is speaking of someone’s “flashback” to what is their earliest memory. This made me think about how many people actually are able to remember memories as far back as three years old. However, we do not know the age of the person so not much can be said about that. The tone of this poem, along with a lot of her other poems, is very sad and gloomy. She is also writing in free verse again as this is the style she likes to write in. She also uses imagery in saying things such as “bluish shadow” and “delicately striped.” Imagery is a lot of times used to add a lot more meaning to a poem and this is accomplished within all of Sharon Olds poems. I also noticed that the poem does not really use many words. It repeats “back and forth” and “light and dark” so there is some repetition of phrases. This significant because the author most definitely wants you to pay attention to these words and is trying to let you know that these actions were repeated. I can relate to this poem in a way that I, along with a lot of people, often think about what my earliest memory may be, and how much of it do it really remember. If that memory is in the back of your mind, then most likely it was meant for you to remember it.



=Rite of Passage by: Sharon Olds=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">1 As the guests arrive at our son’s party <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">2 they gather in the living room— <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">3 short men, men in first grade <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">4 with smooth jaws and chins. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">5 Hands in pockets, they stand around <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">6 jostling, jockeying for place, small fights <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">7 breaking out and calming. One says to another <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">//8 How old are you? —Six. —I’m seven. —So?// <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">9 They eye each other, seeing themselves <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">10 tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">11 throats a lot, a room of small bankers, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">12 they fold their arms and frown. //I could beat you// <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">//13 up,// a seven says to a six, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">14 the midnight cake, round and heavy as a <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">15 turret behind them on the table. My son, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">16 freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">17 chest narrow as the balsa keel of a <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">18 model boat, long hands <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">19 cool and thin as the day they guided him <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">20 out of me, speaks up as a host <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">21 for the sake of the group. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">//22 We could easily kill a two-year-old//, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">23 he says in his clear voice. The other <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">24 men agree, they clear their throats <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">25 like Generals, they relax and get down to <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">26 playing war, celebrating my son’s life.

In this poem, it seems to be yet another poem about a personal experience. Imagery plays a big role in this poem as well. The overall theme of the poem to me is about being comfortable in your own skin. It seemed like the kids who were picking on the others were insecure. It goes from explaining them as “with smooth jaws and chins” (line 4), to “they fold their arms and frown” (line 12). I can relate to this poem, in terms of others trying to be superior but I’ve experienced it more as bullying. I am not saying that bullying is going on in this poem, although it most likely is, but it seems as though someone is trying to “one-up” someone else. It is also interesting how instead of saying boys she uses the term “short men, men in first grade-.” This highlights diction and how she could have said young boys or children but she didn’t and this adds more meaning to the poem. Maybe, Olds is even calling them men because of the way they are acting. I was also surprised how the poem turned out. This also helps us to see how people can quickly solve a problem. Whether they solved the problem or not, the poem when from a happy, to dark, to happy tone. I also notice how Olds is emphasizing words that are being spoken. She could just put them in quotations, however, she chooses to italicize them for more emphasis and you can pay close attention to what is being said. Why did she mention that the short men can “easily kill a two-year-old?” (Line 22) I think she used this line in particular to show that they were really serious about whatever the issue was and they really wanted to scare the younger children. When I think of the title I think about someone being able to get through and maybe that is just what they were able to do.

=Sources= "Poetry Magazine." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

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Editors, The. "I Could Not Tell." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

[|http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/153/4#!/20601894]

[] Editors, The. "Rite of Passage." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

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