18 pages • 36 minutes read
Sharon OldsThe Victims
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1984A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden (1966)
Published roughly 20 years before “The Victims,” Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” is an important, canonical text that illustrates and examines a father-child family dynamic. Told in the past tense—from the point of view of an adult looking back on their childhood and having an epiphany about their childhood—the poem follows a similar framework to “The Victims,” in which Olds’s speaker, looking back on the past, comes to a newfound realization as an adult in the present. Additionally, as a comparison, “Those Winter Sundays” has to do with a very different theme (fatherly love) from “The Victims,” which makes this poem an interesting side-by-side comparison.
"Tours" by C.D. Wright (1982)
Published just two years before “The Victims,” C.D. Wright’s “Tours” is a poem about a child witnessing her parent’s abusive relationship. While the poem is told in the present tense (rather than told in the past tense in the form of a memory), the context of the poem (the abuse the child witnesses) and the way the child handles this abuse might serve as important discussion points for understanding the psychology of childhood trauma and the way this trauma is represented in contemporary poetry.
"My Father’s Oak" by Marie Howe (1988)
Marie Howe, a contemporary of Sharon Olds, offers a compelling comparison in the poem “My Father’s Oak.” A poem largely driven by imagery and symbolism, the poem engages the question: How do people live with the memory of their fathers?
Further Literary Resources
“I have learned to get pleasure from speaking of pain,” Olds says in the introduction to this interview. Olds often writes of family and childhood trauma, and this interview is essential to better understanding her poetic inspiration, how she internalizes trauma, and why she chooses to write about these painful moments.
In this lengthy reading given by Sharon Olds at Emory University, two speakers introduce Olds to the audience, including renowned poet Kevin Young. These speakers share why Olds’s poetry is so important and impactful. Listening to these introductions (as well as Olds’s reading) will offer insight into Olds as a poetic voice in contemporary poetry.
Understanding Sharon Olds by Russell Brickey (2017)
In this book, Russell Brickey dives into the themes and characters of Sharon Olds’s poetry, as well as her life and career as a poet. The book does not shy from the often-controversial topics Olds explores, including sex, family dysfunction, violence against women, and more. This book is a cornerstone to better understanding Olds as a poet and a person.
Listen to Poem
Sharon Olds’s “The Victims” (read by an actor)
In this reading of “The Victims,” an actor clearly and emotionally reads the lines, bringing to life the tonal shifts occurring throughout the poem.
Related Titles
By Sharon Olds
