morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page i The Poetry of Louise Glück morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page ii morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page iii Daniel Morris The Poetry of Louise Glück A Thematic Introduction University of Missouri Press Columbia and London morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page iv 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 morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page v For Joy, Isaac, Aaron, and Hannah morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page vi morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page vii 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 vii morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page viii 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 morris text 9/27/06 7:35 AM Page ix 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. ix