Poetry Outline #3: "35/10" by Sharon Olds

Question: Much of the poem consists of contrasts between physical characteristics of the mother and daughter. What connotations give emotional weight to these contrasts?

Thesis: As the mother in the poem contrasts her physical appearance to her daughter's, she utilizes certain words to add a negative emotional effect to the comparisons.

Body #1: At the beginning of the poem, the mother refers to her daughter's hair as "brown" (1) and "silken" (2); she refers to her own as "grey" (3) and even calls herself  her daughter's "silver-haired servant" (4).
- The mother points out the distinct beauty in her young daughter's hair by noting not only the dark color of it, but also its silken texture. She juxtaposes the appearance of her daughter's hair and her own by saying that her hair was grey/silver, while her daughter's is brown. The difference between the two hair colors indicates their significant difference in age
- Not only does the mother point out the contrast between the colors of their hair,  but she also refers to herself as her daughter's "servant" (4) as she brushes her hair for her. One would not typically describe themself as their child's servant, so perhaps she chose to use this word because brushing her young daughter's hair makes her feel even older. Thus, thinking about how her daughter has her entire life ahead of her, yet hers is well past its peak, makes the mother feel the rest of her life is dedicated to her daughter's.

Body #2: When describing her own physical appearance, the mother points out her flaws caused by age and uses words with negative connotations. However, while distinguishing her daughter's physical appearance, she uses words with more positive connotations that portray her daughter's youthful beauty.
- The mother contrasts the physical characteristics bestowed upon her by old age and the physical characteristics of her daughter because of her youth. She says, "the fold in my neck clarifying as the fine bones of her hips sharpen" (6-8). As time goes on, the mother notices that wrinkles in her skin (in this case one in particular on her neck) become more evident, yet her daughter's immature body seems to grow more into adolescence.
- She also notes that her skin "shows its dry pitting" (8-9) while she compares her daughter's to "a moist precise flower" (9-10). Using the opposite words "dry" and "moist" and considering her daughter to be a "flower", (a word with a typically positive connotation) emphasizes that the mother's youthful days are over, and now it is her daughter's turn to live her life.

Body #3: In the last line, the mother refers to this process as "the story of replacement" (18). In this case, the word "replacement" has a particularly negative connotation to it.
- Out of all of the other more positive terms the mother could have used to describe this phase of life (such as simply "growing old" or "the circle of life") she chose to use the word "replacement." This demonstrates that the mother is not particularly pleased that her youth came to an end a while ago, as well as the fact that her life now consists of admiring her daughter's. It omits a bit of jealousy; the mother obviously wishes that she could switch places with her daughter and re-live her youthful ignorance, but she cannot. She feels remorseful about this and, instead of focusing on her daughter's future, she chooses to focus on her own past.