I Go Back To May 1937 Analysis

In the poem, “I Go Back to May 1937”, the author makes the comment that though there is a wrong being committed, selfishness drives people away from doing what is morally correct. The wrong being committed in this poem is the main character not preventing their parents wedding. In order to be morally correct, it is simply doing the right thing that could prevent a wrong doing or mistake. The author makes this comment through repetition, connotation, and a change in syntax from long, complex sentences to shortened and more simplistic sentences.

The reader is indulged in the selfishness of the protagonist through the repetition of the phrase “I want” along with the repetition of pronouns such as I, you, and they. The phrase I want is continuously repeated because it illustrates the protagonists ambition and selfishness.
Words such as “want”, “wrong”, and “stop” the author creates the sense of nepotism through the main character. The word want connotates to ambition and neediness, whereas the word wrong connotates to incorrect and false. The word stop, connotates to ending and discontinuation. However, all of these words put together guide the reader to see the self indulgence of the protagonist. All of these words support this because they all create a sense of wanting while ignoring what is the right thing to do. In the sense of the poem, there is a hint of wrongness which is not stopping the parents from marriage while the ambitious wants of the protagonist influences them to ignore the noble thing to do; preventing the wedding. However, all of the connotations point to selfishness because they either contain prevention or ambition, which allows for the reader to directly visualize the selfishness within the poem. This elucidates how greediness and personal benefit gears people away from doing what is morally