"Last Night" by Sharon Olds

In the poem "Last Night" by Sharon Olds, she tells a story of a woman's sexual encounter the night before. She uses great symbolism and sexual innuendo throughout this work to describe her reflection of the experience. I believe that the woman in this poem is having a Love VS. Lust conflict within, and cannot decide whether it was a good experience or not. Olds writes "Love?"- questioning what love is and how "love" should be understood. She also writes a few times "I close my eyes when I remember" which could come across are being embarrassed or uncomfortable with the experience that had occurred the evening prior. However, there are moments in the poem that I believe that there is a conflict with the man she is with. Is it a one night stand? Someone she has been recently dating? or someone that she is in love with, but something has changed within their relationship. Olds writes, "Did I know you?" which could be a question of if she truly knows the man she is with on a deeper level, or does this suggest that she truly doesn't know this man. Either way, it is evident that the sexual encounter described through "Last Night"  is one that embodies conflict within the woman's mental state towards her experience. Is she confused or uncomfortable because there was an intimate relationship with a man she hardly knows? Because she enjoyed the experience of lust rather than love? That she truly hated this experience altogether? or possibly that she absolutely hated the overall experience? It is a very interesting poem and I find many different interpretations as I reread this work. I did find this poem very well written. It contains a lot of symbolism, vivid details, and controversial interpretations that I really enjoy in a poem!

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