poetry

A detailed Summary of poetry


Sharon Olds' poem "Late Poem to My Father" exposes the profound effect that childhood trauma can have on someone, even in adulthood. The speaker of the poem invokes sadness and pity in the reader by reflecting on the traumatic childhood of her father, and establishes a cause and effect relationship between the abuse he endured as a child and the dependence he develops on alcohol as an adult. The idea of emotional retardation caused by childhood experiences is not uncommon, especially in our modern world of prevalent substance abuse, dysfunctional families, and child abuse. However, Olds' poem is a moving testament to this tragic loss of innocence due to the powerful imagery she weaves throughout the first half of the poem. In addition, Olds skillfully uses figurative language and deliberate line breaks throughout the poem to develop the

dismal sorrow her speaker feels while reflecting on the childhood of her father.

The poem opens with the speaker experiencing an epiphany while contemplating on her

father's childhood, and later in the poem we learn that this contemplation is more specifically

focused on the causes of her father's dependence on alcohol. In the first seven lines of the poem

she uses descriptive details to estab


imagery of darkness. It is interesting to note how the speaker distinguishes these details, yet in

vividly to the reader. This placement of line breaks is prevalent throughout the poem, and often

used to unveil the emotional damage done to the speaker's father as a result of the child abuse. It

lish a dark, foreboding image of the setting. For example, in

also the line breaks are placed after "something was" in each line, which presents the idea more

and the creek being on the outside, where the idea of escape exists. The silent actions of the



Some common words found in the essay are:
Poem Father, line breaks, Sharon Olds', childhood father, cause effect relationship, substance abuse, effect relationship, child abuse, lines poem, poem olds, throughout poem, father's father, speaker poem,

Approximate Word count = 958
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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