Sharon Olds First Thanksgiving Poem Analysis
Darin Sliker
Professor McNamara
ENWR 106-AU
27 February 2014
His Past Determined Her Future Imagine being abused, hit, yelled at, and left alone without the most important feeling of love. Growing up without a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold. How would these actions sculpt you as an individual? Would they compel you to do the same actions to your own loved ones, or show them love and compassion, which your life had lacked? Poets tend to write pieces of literature as reflections back on their personal lives, describing situations that stay afloat in their heads. Sharon Olds’ happened to be one of these poets, who expressed her upsetting past relationship with her father and current relationships with her children through these works of art. In Olds’ first poems, she …show more content…
Just as she found it extremely difficult accepting the fact of her once young boy, growing up into the mature young man he was becoming, she found it hard to cope with the idea of her daughter not being as dependent anymore. In Olds’ forth poem, “First Thanksgiving”, Reminiscing back to the diaper days, she draws memories of her once young daughter, “those nights, I fed her to sleep, week after week, the moon rising and setting, and waxing- whirling, over the months, in a slow blur, around our planet” (10-13). Thinking back to these times, taking care of her daughter, nurturing her, shows there was no similar effect as to her way of being raised, on her daughter. Just as her relationship was strong and compassionate with her son, Olds’ treasured the time she had with her daughter and valued everything that has come into her life at this time. No matter what challenges individuals face in life, the path they choose to take, as an adult can be completely the opposite as to what they knew, as Sharon proceed to
Professor McNamara
ENWR 106-AU
27 February 2014
His Past Determined Her Future Imagine being abused, hit, yelled at, and left alone without the most important feeling of love. Growing up without a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold. How would these actions sculpt you as an individual? Would they compel you to do the same actions to your own loved ones, or show them love and compassion, which your life had lacked? Poets tend to write pieces of literature as reflections back on their personal lives, describing situations that stay afloat in their heads. Sharon Olds’ happened to be one of these poets, who expressed her upsetting past relationship with her father and current relationships with her children through these works of art. In Olds’ first poems, she …show more content…
Just as she found it extremely difficult accepting the fact of her once young boy, growing up into the mature young man he was becoming, she found it hard to cope with the idea of her daughter not being as dependent anymore. In Olds’ forth poem, “First Thanksgiving”, Reminiscing back to the diaper days, she draws memories of her once young daughter, “those nights, I fed her to sleep, week after week, the moon rising and setting, and waxing- whirling, over the months, in a slow blur, around our planet” (10-13). Thinking back to these times, taking care of her daughter, nurturing her, shows there was no similar effect as to her way of being raised, on her daughter. Just as her relationship was strong and compassionate with her son, Olds’ treasured the time she had with her daughter and valued everything that has come into her life at this time. No matter what challenges individuals face in life, the path they choose to take, as an adult can be completely the opposite as to what they knew, as Sharon proceed to