Olds, Sharon : Late Poem to My Father

Literature Annotations

Genre	Poem
Keywords	Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Children, Empathy, Family Relationships, Father-Daughter Relationship, Human Worth, Love, Suffering, Time, Trauma
Summary	The narrator has experienced an epiphany in which she can understand objectively, even forgive, her father’s abusive behavior toward her. She has seen in her mind’s eye her father as a child, in the bleak household where "something was / not given to you, or something was / taken from you . . . "; she wishes that the love she feels for her father now could have nurtured him as a child and saved him from becoming an alcoholic adult who mistreated his family.
Commentary	This is one of a number of poems in which Olds peels off the layers of abusive behavior passed down from generation to generation (see for example Of All the Dead That Have Come to Me, This Once in this database). It is remarkable for its use of imagery and interpolation to express complex behavior and a complex response.
Source	The Gold Cell
Publisher	Knopf
Edition	1987
Place Published	New York
Annotated by	Aull, Felice
Date of Entry	02/09/94