Sharon Olds 'I Go Back To May 1937'

Sharon Olds’ poem “I Go Back to May 1937” is written as if the speaker; which appears to be female is looking back in time to when he or she’s parents first met and married. The speaker throughout the poem does not seem pleased with the events that unfolded thereafter, but nonetheless understands that there is nothing that she could have done to stop it from happening. The poem gives a short glimpse into the life the couple had and the effect it had on the child/narrator. The poem is almost a flashback, but instead of first person point of view, it is told from the perception of the child’s viewpoint, which seems predominately that of despair and hopelessness. The first line gives the setting of the poem, the ‘story’ being told starts off