"I Go Back to May 1937" is included in Olds's collection The Gold Cell. Reception of Olds's poems is often mixed, including reception for The Gold Cell. While individual poems from a collection are rarely singled out for comment in a review of the book, Terri Brown-Davidson does comment specifically on "I Go Back to May 1937" in a review of The Gold Cell for the Hollins Critic. Brown-Davidson refers to the first dozen lines of the poem as "disturbing," not because of the poem's intensity or topic, but because the critic finds the poem "formulaic." Brown-Davidson sug- gests that Olds is not taking chances with her poetry, and is instead refusing "to push beyond the boundaries to grow and keep growing." The critic argues that Olds's poetry is "belabored" and "overdramatic," and that "I.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 454 words. This
study guide contains 13,714 words (approx. 46 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our I Go Back to May 1937 Access Pass.
