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Sharon Olds is an American poet born Sharon Stuart Cobb on November 19, 1942, in San Francisco, California. When she was three, her family moved to Berkeley, where she was raised. Throughout her childhood, Olds read widely, and Olds and her older sister attended the elite all-girls Dana Hill School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. After marrying David Olds in 1968, she pursued a Ph.D. in English at Columbia University in New York, specializing in the works of the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. She graduated in 1972 and began writing poetry in earnest at this time.

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1980: San Francisco Poetry Center Award for "Satan Says"

1981: Guggenheim Fellowship

1983: Lamont Poetry Selection for "The Dead and the Living"

1984: National Book Critics Circle Award for "The Dead and the Living"

1997: Harriet Monroe Poetry Award

1998–2000: New York State Poet Laureate

2012: T.S. Eliot Prize for "Stag's Leap"

2013: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for "Stag's Leap"

2016: Wallace Stevens Award

2022: Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry

2022: Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

2023: Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize

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How do other people react to the work, and what does that tell us about social beliefs about feminism and patriarchy?

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How do other people react to the work, and what does that tell us about social beliefs about feminism and patriarchy?

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I interpret this poem as an explanation of how gender norms and patriarchy lead people to believe that marriage is the ultimate step toward happiness, forcing individuals to make decisions that may not have been for the best just to conform to societal expectations.

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Her upbringing was difficult. Her father, a steel salesman, was a strict Calvinist, and television, movies and other pleasures were forbidden. He was also abusive to his three children: her older sister, Olds herself, and her younger brother. Her mother did not protect the children from their father, participating in the abuse herself at times.

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Link To The Poem - "I Go Back To May 1937"

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Link To The Poem - "I Go Back To May 1937"

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Satan Says (1980) – her debut collection.

The Dead and the Living (1984) – won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Father (1992) – a collection about her father’s illness and death.

Stag’s Leap (2012) – won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize; it reflects on the end of her marriage.

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Sharon Olds Reading The Poem "I Go Back To May 1937"

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Sharon Olds Reading The Poem "I Go Back To May 1937"

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SHARON OLDS reads "I Go Back to May 1937"

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Carl Jung- Father of the Archetypal Theory

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Carl Jung- Father of the Archetypal Theory

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"I Go Back to May 1937” was first published in her 1987 collection, The Gold Cell.

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"I Go Back to May 1937” was first published in her 1987 collection, The Gold Cell.

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1930s - How does the historical context of the Great Depression influence Sharon Olds' poem?

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1930s - How does the historical context of the Great Depression influence Sharon Olds' poem?

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The 1930s were a time of "The Great Depression", a devastating global economic downturn that led to high unemployment and poverty. During the Depression, many people faced significant financial struggles, where decisions were driven more by necessity. There was societal pressure for women to marry, as marriage was seen as a mark of respectability and social stability. In Sharon Olds' poem, she might be reflecting on how her parents' marriage, shaped by these necessities rather than love or emotional connection, led to a troubled relationship, resulting in feelings of regret, grief, and loss.

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Sharon Olds is known for her deeply personal and emotionally powerful poetry.

Key influences:

Her personal experiences - She writes about her strict Calvinist upbringing, family struggles, and motherhood which influenced her to explore themes like power and survival.

Feminism - Her poetry questions traditional ideas about women that society has had for a long time such as women should be self-sacrificing, their main role is to be wives and mothers, and women should not be expressive about their desires.

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Why is the poem titled "I Go Back to May 1937" ?

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Why is the poem titled "I Go Back to May 1937" ?

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The poem is titled "I Go Back to May 1937" as Sharon Olds imagines herself revisiting the moment before her parents got married. She writes the poem reflecting on the pain and struggles that their marriage caused, wishing she could have stopped their marriage to save them from the difficulty they would face later in life.

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"her hungry pretty face turning to me, her pitiful beautiful untouched body,"

The mother is described mainly by how she looks, making her seem delicate and innocent instead of strong or independent. Feminist theory criticizes this because it shows how women are often judged by their beauty rather than their thoughts or actions. This is called the male gaze, where women are seen as objects of desire instead of as individuals with their own choices.

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How is the relationship between characters portrayed?

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How is the relationship between characters portrayed?

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The poem focuses on Sharon's parents at their youth, just before graduation. The poet can't stop them from marrying.

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"this arrogant handsome face turning to me, his pitiful beautiful untouched body,"

The father is described as "arrogant" and "handsome", suggesting confidence and power, while the mother is "pitiful". This contrast highlights traditional gender roles where men are dominant and women are fragile, a dynamic that feminist theory challenges as limiting and unequal.

"they are about to graduate, they are about to get married,

they are kids, they are dumb,"

Sharon Olds sees the parents as young and unaware of the hardships they will face in marriage. They are making a big decision without fully understanding the consequences. Feminist theory critiques how society pushes people, especially women, into marriage without considering the potential struggles, often leading to unfair relationships where women have less power and face emotional pain.

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Childhood trauma - The poem vividly depicts the speaker's memories of her parents, pointing out their flaws and the negative impact they had on her childhood.

Dysfunctional Family Dynamics - Sharon Olds wishes her parents had not married, expecting things to turn out differently. The issues in the marriage affected her life, leaving her with a desire for a different past.

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I Go Back to May 1937 Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary

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Get ready to explore I Go Back to May 1937 and its meaning. Our full analysis and study guide provides an even deeper dive with character analysis and quotes explained to help you discover the complexity and beauty of this book.

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 Psychoanalytic Theory- How does the id, ego, or superego present?

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 Psychoanalytic Theory- How does the id, ego, or superego present?

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Id - instincts (driven by strong emotions)

"I want to go up to them and say Stop, don’t do it"

It reflects the Id as it is based on immediate emotion rather than the logical thought that it's impossible to change the past. However, she still has a strong emotional impulse to stop her parents from marrying, driven by the pain and struggles she knows their marriage will cause.

Ego - reality

"They are about to graduate, they are about to get married,

they are kids, they are dumb, all they know is they are

innocent, "

Sharon olds accepts the reality that, when her parents were making the life-changing decision to marry, they were young, naive and unaware of the challenges they would face in their marriage. They couldn’t have known the consequences at the time. She understands that it's impossible to change the past and reflects on it without trying to change it.

Superego - morality (part of our mind that tells us what is right or wrong helping us make decisions)

"You are going to do bad things to children,

you are going to suffer in ways you have not heard of,

you are going to want to die."

She is using her superego to judge the consequences of her parents' marriage, knowing that their decision will lead to suffering. Her moral awareness is why she feels the need to warn them, even though she knows she can't.

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Tone and Mood of "I Go Back to May 1937"

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Tone and Mood of "I Go Back to May 1937"

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Regretful, Grief, Loss and Sorrowful

The tone is filled with regret, grief and loss. Sharon Olds regrets the decision her parents made to get married. This regret leads to grief over the emotional pain and struggles caused by their marriage. Also, she reflects on the loss of a peaceful and happier life that could have been. The mood of the poem is sorrowful as the speaker looks back on her painful family history with sadness and a longing for a different outcome.

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Sigmund Freud - Father of Psychoanalytic Theory  

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Sigmund Freud - Father of Psychoanalytic Theory  

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The Unconscious Mind: Much of our behaviour is driven by things we aren’t aware of, like hidden memories or desires.

"The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water".

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I interpret their marriage as “The Fall”: "they are kids, they are dumb, all they know is they are innocent, they would never hurt anybody". The “Fall” represents any event that marks a loss of innocence, a shift from an idealistic life and perspective into a corrupted one. We see a profound contrast: children who were once gentle and pure grow into abusive adults and parents.

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“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

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"Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed."

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“To be oppressed means to be deprived of your ability to choose.”

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Feminist Theory - How are gender “roles” defined?

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Feminist Theory - How are gender “roles” defined?

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In the poem, the father is seen as strong and confident, while the mother is seen as fragile and innocent. This shows the traditional gender roles, where men are expected to be strong and women are seen as delicate. The poem questions how these roles affect their lives and relationship.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hh33BJTkYDAhEXatA9QeFTXhkiaxYwuM9Jm8FRa71Gs/edit?tab=t.0