"I Go Back to May 1937"

This is quite a unique poem due to its point of view and reasoning behind the lines. Sharon Olds chose to write about her family's past, specifically her parents, and how their actions affected her future. Throughout many times in the poem, Olds uses a standard object to symbolize another idea, which leads to an important theme in the poem. Her use of diction in the line, "I see my father strolling out under the ochre arch, the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood behind his head..." (Lines 2-5) create the idea of having a very confident father. I cannot relate to this, since none of my elders have graduated college, yet I can understand how confident and proud Olds must have felt because of her parent's accomplishments.  

In the next couple of lines, Olds attitude and mood begins to shift into more of disappointed and regretful. At this point, I could only ask myself, why? She states, "...You are going to suffer in ways you never heard of, you are going to want to die..." (Lines 18-19). This quote tells me that the author wanted to prevent or warn her parents from continuing on this path of their lives. But what could she be warning them about? This creates the feeling of anger and regret, which oddly enough might have been why Olds wrote the poem in the first place. I can some-what connect to this line, because I too have tried to warn someone I cared about, but I couldn't keep them from changing their minds, which led to a point of no return, much like the author's parents. 

Near the end of the poem, it appears that Olds reveals more about the reasoning behind this poem. Once she used the line, "I want to live" (line 25), I realized the poem was looking back to the past and trying to change it to get a better outcome in the future. Olds really wanted to warn her parents and keep them from ever getting married or having any kids, because she already knew from her experiences that they were not suitable to be parents. I have seen many instances in my life were young couples decide to have kids, and in the end, they just were not ready to take that step. That is what I think Olds was trying to explain in her poem, and give her experiences as a child to support her beliefs.

Therefore, Sharon Olds used this poem to express her thoughts and try to connect to her readers, just like I was able to connect with her story.