Poem Analysis: Mrs. Krikorian (Literature & Language Reaction Paper)

Poem Analysis: Mrs. Krikorian (from the Wellspring 1996)
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s NameDate
At some point in our lives, we can remember that we were ridiculed or despised by some, if not by many people. Because of this, we became a lone wolf in the corner of a room, without anything to talk about to anyone. Isolation became our best friend, and the inner peace that it gave us was alluring. But no matter how captivating the silence may be, it was challenging to ponder how one ended up being in that position. Until one day, someone approached us and turned out to be our saving grace. That savior could be a friend or even a teacher. Mrs. Krikorian, a poem by Sharon Olds, describes the association between the savior and the saved in the form of the teacher-student relationship. Here, Olds illustrated the perspective of the student while the teacher suddenly turned to his ally.
The student in the poem was the narrator of the story. He metaphorically described himself as a “criminal,” which would refer to his violent and aggressive personality. This may be the reason why he was isolated from the rest of the class. Hostility made others reluctant to approach the student, but it was different from Mrs. Krikorian’s. The teacher suddenly showed mercy upon him, as if she were an angel (or a demon) in disguise, by providing her a special library pass to where he could spend his time meaningfully. The poem says:
“As soon as you finish your hour’s work–
that hour’s work that took ten minutes
and then the devil glanced into the room
and found me empty, a house standing open–
you can go to the library (Olds, 1996).”<...