Last week in my contemporary poetry class an intellectual debate ensued on censorship.

Our lecture was on confessional poets and the debate pertained to Sylvia Plath's well-known "Daddy" and Sharon Olds' "That Year." Both poems utilize explicit imagery by alluding to the Holocaust.

The poems are deemed controversial because the speakers in the works compare their toxic relationships with their fathers to that of the Nazis and Jewish victims. The abuse they endure by their fathers is linked with the torture the Jewish people suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

The Holocaust, along with other genocides, will forever be a sensitive topic to many. However, when it comes to all forms of art—literature, paintings, film, comedy, etc.—censorship is something that takes away from the social impact (and even the beauty) of the content.

I know. How dare I refer to poetry that references the Holocaust as beautiful. Well, what many don't seem to understand is that art's content, whether direct or figurative, is not necessarily indicative of the artist's beliefs. It's the message of a piece that is significant.

When Olds' poem "That Year" was published, she received a lot of backlash for it. Primarily because in the final lines of the poem, the speaker conveys that they, like the Holocaust survivors, would like "to share some part of, the word survivor."

Some students in my class thought it was wrong for Olds to associate this character with Holocaust survivors whereas others argued—myself included—for Olds' artistic freedom. My argument is that Olds isn't leveling the macro abuse of the Jewish victims with the micro abuse of the the poem's speaker. From my perspective, the poem's end suggests that no matter what type of suffering we may endure, we're all survivors in some way.

Some would argue it's not right to appropriate the Holocaust. However, Olds isn't making light of what the Jews went through. How can one read this poem and not be inspired by that final line? This poem conveys an uplifting message to anyone who undergoes some form of maltreatment. It's totally understandable why one would take offense to "That Year," but it's important to take the time to fully comprehend a work's intention before judging it so harshly.