The poetry of Louise Glück : a thematic introduction

289 Pages·2006·3.956 MB·English

by  Glück, Louise, Morris, Daniel, Gluck, Louise

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The Poetry of
Louise Glück
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Daniel Morris
The Poetry of
Louise Glück
A Thematic Introduction
University of Missouri Press
Columbia and London
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Copyright © 2006 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Morris, Daniel, 1962–
The poetry of Louise Glück : a thematic introduction / Daniel Morris.
p. cm.
Summary: “Explores Glück’s utilization of masks of characters from history, the Bible, and fairy
tales, discussing the persistent themes and transitional tone of her poetry through close reading of
her early work, Firstborn; through the book-length sequences Ararat, Meadowlands, and The
Wild Iris; to her latest, including Vita Nova and Averno”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8262-1693-9 (hard cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8262-1693-5 (hard cover : alk. paper)
1. Glück, Louise, 1943—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PS3557.L8Z75 2006
811'.54—dc22
2006024591
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Stephanie Foley
Typesetter: foleydesign
Printer and binder: The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
Typefaces: Baskerville and Vladimir Script
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For Joy, Isaac, Aaron, and Hannah
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
PART I. THEMATIC KEYWORDS
Chapter One. “Poems Are Autobiography”: Toward Imagining a
Postconfessionalist’s Biography 21
Chapter Two. Dedicated to Hunger: A Poetics of Desire 36
Chapter Three. Visions and Revisions: Commentary and the Question of Being a
Contemporary Jewish Poet 60
Chapter Four. The Wound in the Word: Trauma Theory and the Question of
Witness 98
Chapter Five. Challenging Trauma Theory: Witnessing Divine Mystery 133
PART II. A POET OF THE BOOK
Chapter Six. The House on Marshland:Second Nature Writing and the Entrance into
the Symbolic 151
Chapter Seven. Should I Say It with Flowers? Araratand the Work of Mourning
through Nature Poetry 178
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viii Contents
Chapter Eight. Errand in the Spiritual Wilderness: The Wild Irisas Contemporary
Prayer Sequence 191
Chapter Nine. Mythic Fragment: Sequence, Commentary, and the Composition of
the Lyric Self through The Odysseyin Meadowlands 231
Works Cited 255
Index 265
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Acknowledgments
I want to thank the several kind persons who read portions of this book
in draft, tentative or final, or who encouraged me in other ways. At Purdue,
Ann Astell and Wendy Stallard Flory deserve enormous credit for their close
attention to style and substance throughout the manuscript. Alan Berger
gave the project initial support. Ethan Goffman provided important editorial
help. I am grateful to Louise Glück for generously allowing me to quote from
her poems and essays. At the University of Missouri Press, I am grateful to
two anonymous readers whose responses to my manuscript were filled with
useful advice for revision. I cannot express enough gratitude to Clair Willcox,
Jane Lago, and Beverly Jarrett for believing in the book and seeing it to press
in such a timely fashion. Pippa Letsky did an extraordinary job copyediting
the manuscript. My greatest debt, however, goes to my wife, Joy, and to our
three blessings, Isaac, Aaron, and Hannah, who make every day special.
D.M.
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