Sharon Olds Quotes

Powerful Sharon Olds for Daily Growth

About Sharon Olds

Sharon Olds (born 1942) is an esteemed American poet, known for her intimate, confessional, and deeply personal verse. Born in San Francisco to Jewish parents who moved frequently due to their work, Olds' early life was marked by instability and a sense of rootlessness that would later influence her poetry. Olds studied at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University before earning her MFA from Columbia University in 1968. Her academic pursuits were interrupted when she became a mother at an early age, a role that would shape her work significantly. The birth of her children inspired her to focus on poetry, leading to the publication of her first collection, 'Satan Says' (1980), which won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Olds' poetry is characterized by its raw emotionality, often exploring themes of sexuality, motherhood, death, and faith. Her works are deeply autobiographical, drawing from her own experiences to create vivid, honest portraits of the human condition. 'The Dead and the Living' (1983), 'Stag's Leap' (1992), and 'One Secret Thing' (2008) are among her most acclaimed collections. In 2010, Olds was appointed New York State Poet Laureate, and in 2013 she received the TS Eliot Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Her work continues to resonate with readers for its unflinching honesty and powerful exploration of the human experience. Today, Sharon Olds stands as a prominent figure in contemporary American poetry, her unique voice and candid approach making a lasting impact on the literary world.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I am a woman, and a poet, in a body: these are my first two titles."

This quote by Sharon Olds emphasizes the duality of her identity as both a woman and a poet. She places equal importance on her gender (woman) and her profession (poet). By stating "in a body," she highlights the physical presence that informs her experiences, which in turn influence her poetry. This quote suggests that her femininity and her role as a poet are integral to who she is and her creative process.

"What if everything is a metaphor?"

The quote suggests that Sharon Olds invites us to consider the world as symbolic or figurative, implying that all aspects of life can have multiple layers of meaning beyond their literal understanding. This perspective encourages an imaginative approach to interpreting experiences and events, fostering a deeper appreciation for the richness of our lived reality.

"The soul's memory is not linear."

Sharon Olds suggests that the human soul doesn't store memories in a chronological or sequential manner, as if on a timeline. Instead, it gathers experiences in an interconnected web where each memory can be instantly associated with various other related moments from our past. This means that our emotional responses and reactions to life events are not solely dependent on the order in which they occur but rather on the complex network of associations between memories.

"And I was not made to worship gods, I was made to love people."

This quote suggests a profound emphasis on human connection and empathy over religious or spiritual devotion. It implies that our primary purpose as humans is to care for and love each other, rather than to worship deities or abstract concepts. The speaker is asserting their belief in the importance of human relationships and the significance of caring for fellow beings, emphasizing a focus on compassion and empathy towards others over religious practices or beliefs.

"I am a bride in the sunset of the world, and the bridegroom is death."

The quote by Sharon Olds suggests that life, symbolized as a bride, is reaching its twilight (the sunset of the world), and death, represented as the bridegroom, is inevitable. In other words, Olds acknowledges that life's end draws near, but she embraces this reality with a sense of acceptance, even beauty, much like a bride awaiting her groom.

If I wrote in a sonnet form, I would be distorting. Or if I had some great new idea for line breaks and I used it in a poem, but it's really not right for that poem, but I wanted it, that would be distorting.

- Sharon Olds

New, Some, Breaks, Sonnet

Well, 'The Wellspring' was written from 1983 to 1986. And it had a section in the beginning that was poems that began from others' experience.

- Sharon Olds

Beginning, Began, Had, Wellspring

Their spirits and their visions are embodied in their craft. And so is mine. It's not Jane Saw Puff. But the clarity of Jane Saw Puff is precious to me.

- Sharon Olds

Precious, Craft, Mine, Visions

It might be a bad thing, not to know what's going on in the world. I can't say I really approve of it.

- Sharon Olds

Bad, Going, Might, Approve

There are some fine books and essays about that. Lewis Hyde has written about alcoholism and poets and the role that society gives its writers - encouraging them to die.

- Sharon Olds

Die, Some, Encouraging, Essays

When I quit all these things and said I didn't have any time, I meant I didn't have any time.

- Sharon Olds

Quit, Things, Meant, I Quit

Maybe we can use a metaphor for it, out of dance. I think for many years I was aware of the need, in dance and in life, to breathe deeply and to take in more air than we usually take in.

- Sharon Olds

Think, Maybe, I Think, Breathe

I'm not sure that the benefit - as a writer and as a citizen - that I would get from reading at least the front page of the Times every day or every other day would outweigh the depression.

- Sharon Olds

Other, Citizen, Sure, Front Page

My poems - I don't even like the sound of that, in a way. Not that anyone else wrote them. But we know that only people who are really close to us care about our personal experience.

- Sharon Olds

Experience, Sound, About, Personal Experience

This creature of the poem may assemble itself into a being with its own centrifugal force.

- Sharon Olds

Poem, May, Itself, Creature

The amount of horror one used to hear about in one village could be quite extreme. But one might not have heard about all the other villages' horrors at the same time.

- Sharon Olds

Other, Horror, Amount, Extreme

Many poets write books. They'll tell you: Well, I've got my next book, but there are two poems I need to write, one about x, one about y. This is a wonder to me.

- Sharon Olds

Book, Next, Tell, Poets

So I did quit coffee and I did quit smoking. But I haven't managed that with drinking!

- Sharon Olds

Coffee, Quit, Drinking, Smoking

I think that there are fiction writers for whom that works well. I could never do it. I feel as if, by the time I see that it's a poem, it's almost written in my head somewhere.

- Sharon Olds

I Think, By The Time, Works, Poem

The decision for me was whether to have 'The Father' be a book that told a story - from the point of view of this speaker, the daughter - without, as in the earlier books, then having a section on something else and a section on something else.

- Sharon Olds

Father, Decision, Having, Earlier

At one point I took on a new job, and I just didn't have time to do anything but work.

- Sharon Olds

Work, New, Took, Point

I wish I wrote more about the world at more distance from myself.

- Sharon Olds

Wish, World, I Wish, Distance

I think this is true for all artists. My senses are very important to me.

- Sharon Olds

Think, I Think, Very, Senses

Well, one thing I'm really interested in, when I'm writing, is being accurate.

- Sharon Olds

Writing, Well, One Thing, Accurate

I was very afraid that I wouldn't be able to do this job well. And the time never came back.

- Sharon Olds

Never, Able, Very, Afraid

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