Summary Of On The Subway By Sharon Olds

Joey Cunningham
September 28, 2015
Textual Analysis Essay
On the Subway On the Subway is a poem written by Sharon Olds that explores a typical and casual trip along the subway, narrated by a steady, contrasting compilation of thoughts from the speaker. Through use of several literary elements and devices, Olds draws on the tension felt between two bystanders who appear to be so opposite from each other, but yet have had a history of connections. On the Subway showcases a mindset that underscores the social and racial tensions that the speaker recognizes from society through her own perspective. Through the thoughts and emotions of the speaker Olds creates a critically in depth outlook on the perceptions of society through one woman. Sharon

A central theme that presented itself early in the poem and stayed consistent throughout was the idea of opposition. The speaker drew off of the fact that she felt her and the other man were of complete opposite nature, creating a clear connection to the overall message of the poem. To create this sense of opposition, the author used contrasts of light and dark, and in doing this it highlights racial undertones by putting an emphasis on white and black. This is seen several times in the poem but particularly here, when Sharon Olds writes “and he is black and I am white, and without meaning or trying to I must profit from our history” (Olds, 22-24). This drawn contrast of light and dark elements illuminates the signs of racial tensions as the poem’s overall message, and draws even further off of this by implementing the idea of a history shared between the woman and the man, highlighting the history of racism. Playing off of this same idea, the speaker’s

The line breaks help to represent the speaker’s emotional turmoil when presented with this man, and also allows the reader to follow her feelings as if they are feeling the same thing. As Olds separates each line, she does so at strategic points to expand on the effect of the poem. Olds uses line breaks at specific and rather important times in the poem to emphasize the thought process of the narrator. This is seen through lines 7-9, stating “he has or my white eye imagines he has the casual cold look of a mugger” (Olds, 7-9). Here the line is broken after “he has,” which forces a pause at this point, then adds a comment about the speaker’s race and how it effects the current situation. The use of strategic line breaks is crucial to the reader’s experience of the poem in that it ultimately demands the reader to identify with the speaker’s understanding of racial tensions through her own persona. This puts the reader in a position to understand the deep and jumbled thoughts that the speaker is feeling, and further identifies for the reader the purpose of highlighting racial undertones in today’s world. The poem would not nearly present the same impact the author wishes to present to the reader without the use of line breaks. To put it into perspective, if this poem was read in prose, the reader would have no