Symbolism In Sharon Olds's Last Night By Sharon Olds

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This poem dramatizes the conflict between love and lust, particularly as this conflict relates to what the speaker seems to say about last night. In the poem “Last Night” by Sharon Olds, the narrator uses symbolism and sexual innuendo to reflect on her lust for her partner from the night before. The narrator refers to her night by stating, “Love? It was more like dragonflies in the sun, 100 degrees at noon.” (2, 3) She describes it as being not as great as she imagined it to be and not being love, but lust. Olds uses lust, sex and symbolism as the themes in the story about “Last night”. A woman is rethinking her experience from the night before and telling it through vivid description. It tells exactly how she feels and her thoughts. She describes what exactly love and lust feels like with a man she doesn 't know well. She starts out saying that she was afraid but goes deep into emotions of the sex between the two of them. The woman is describes each movement during the sexual innuendo. After the intercourse, she cuddles in his secured arms till they fall asleep. The lust for the man that the narrator had for her partner suggests …show more content…

The narrator is the first symbolism because it is a women’s point of view on a one night stand that started with lust and ended with love. She is young and in love with a random man that she barely know much about. The Dragon flies at the beginning of the poem symbols what she and the man having sex. They are stuck together and sweating like it is “100 degrees at noon” in the sun. (3) She uses the dragonflies because they are beautiful creatures that are not sure about the other dragonfly that they are making a baby with. Next, she explains herself as a drunk that “refuse(s) to remember, the way a drunkard forgets.” (19, 20) She does not want to remember the next morning what she has done and feels weird that she has done what she has done with the

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