|
Poet: Sharon Olds
Poem: Topography
Volume: The Gold Cell
Comment 3 of 3, added on April 6th, 2006 at 1:11 PM.
A woman as intelligent as Old's almost certainly knows which direction the sun and moon come from. Could it be that she made a choice as opposed to a mistake? I'd put money on it. It's people like the author of the first comment who view abstract images by Picasso as a choice and the abstract images of non-western art a matter of ignorance.
Olds took a liberty in this poem, just as I will take a liberty in suggesting that you pull your head out of your pompous, misogynistic behind.
Nicole from United States
Comment 2 of 3, added on February 5th, 2006 at 2:44 AM.
Mr. Rumley,
Maybe you will never read this, but let it be known that people of your limited, academic-dulled imagination have no right to read poetry if this is what it produces in you. Please go back to your newpapers and half-edited textbooks and leave even the worst of poetry to those few who can appreciate such distortions.
Yours sincerely,
tm healy
Thomas Healy from Czech Republic
Comment 1 of 3, added on October 17th, 2005 at 9:47 PM.
Though this is my favorite Sharon Olds poem, I laugh nearly every time I read “your / sun rising swiftly from the right my / sun rising swiftly from the left your / moon rising slowly from the left my / moon rising slowly from the right.” What I laugh at is how misguided Olds is in her astronomy. In her description of the moon rise she has it rising in the West, a common misconception, but wrong none the less. Let it be known that all heavenly bodies rise in the East and set in the West, this is due to the rotation of the Earth. Let it also be known that the sun and moon both rise with the same swiftness, this is also due to the rotation of the Earth. Though this is the case, let it be known that “Topography” is a beautiful poem despite, and perhaps because of, Olds misconception concerning astronomy.
Patrick Rumley
Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Topography, has received 3 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Sharon Olds with others on the American Poems poetry forum!
|
Comments
A woman as intelligent as Old's almost certainly knows which direction the sun and moon come from. Could it be that she made a choice as opposed to a mistake? I'd put money on it. It's people like the author of the first comment who view abstract images by Picasso as a choice and the abstract images of non-western art a matter of ignorance.
Olds took a liberty in this poem, just as I will take a liberty in suggesting that you pull your head out of your pompous, misogynistic behind.
Nicole from United States