Research Guide to American Literature

2. Tony Hoagland discusses Glück’s “prosecutorial logic,” her use of “an inter-
   twining deductive sequence of propositions and conclusions.” Although
   Hoagland’s analysis refers to the title poem of The Triumph of Achilles and
   “Love Poem” from The House on Marshland, it describes a “syllogistic sequence”
   found in much of her work. Students interested in examining the structural
   logic of one or more of Glück’s poems might begin by paraphrasing it/them in
   the same way that Hoagland does before analyzing how she modifies sentence
   structure and uses line breaks and diction to enhance meaning. Also useful for
   this topic are Stephen Burt’s “‘The Dark Garage with the Garbage’: Louise
   Glück’s Structures” (in Diehl, pp. 74–89) and Helen Vendler’s essay.


3. Much of Glück’s poetry ponders natural images. From the central floral
   images in “Mock Orange” in The Triumph of Achilles and the talking flowers
   in The Wild Iris, to the conjuring up of an apple tree, bonsai, grass, and the
   earth in “Nostos” (from Meadowlands), Glück employs nature in some of her
   most successful and beautiful work. Beyond engaging the pastoral tradition
   or representing nature, Glück utilizes natural elements as metaphors for
   human existence. Students may be interested in examining how the natural
   world functions in one or several of her poems. What larger observations
   about life does Glück draw from natural images? Students might consult
   the works by Mary Kate Azcuy and Daniel Morris for starting points. Azcuy
   demonstrates a feminist impulse in Glück’s association between nature and
   the mythic. Morris’s “The House on Marshland: Second Nature Writing and
   the Entrance into the Symbolic” (pp. 151–177) and “Should I Say It with
   Flowers? Ararat and the Work of Mourning through Nature Poetry” (pp.
   178–190), chapters 6 and 7 of his book, identify thematic concerns associated
   with the use of natural images in Glück’s work.


4. “Legend” in The Triumph of Achilles concerns Glück’s Jewish grandfather who
   emigrated from Hungary, and Ararat features the burial of her father in a
   Jewish cemetery. She also conjures Holocaust images in “Gretel in Darkness”
   and “The Fortress” (in First Four). Little scholarship, however, exists that
   examines the relationship between Glück’s work and Judaism. Morris notes
   that she does not write about Judaism as either religious practice or ethnicity,
   describing her as “an assimilated Jew who seems as comfortable writing about
   Achilles, or a red trillium growing between rocks in a suburban garden in
   Vermont, as she does about Moses or David or Solomon.” Students may find
   it worthwhile to consider the significance of Jewish identity, or lack thereof, in
   Glück’s poetry. Morris provides insights into this topic in “Visions and Revi-
   sions: Commentary and the Questions of Being a Contemporary Jewish Poet”
   (pp. 60–97). This essay provides the first extensive treatment of Jewish themes,
   exploring Glück’s ambivalence toward religious discourse and her reflection of
   the ancient rabbinic Midrash tradition of reading Scripture in order to dis-
   cover new meanings and relevance.


5. While Glück has de-emphasized Judaism as a religious practice, her work does
   ponder matters of a spiritual nature. The Wild Iris, for example, as been described
   as a “contemporary prayer sequence” (Morris) in which Glück ponders the meta-
   physical. Students may choose to research and discuss the metaphysical nature

Louise Glück 29