|
Poet: Louise Gluck (Louise Gluck Art)
Poem: The Gold Lily
Poem of the Day:
Nov 1 2009
Comment 1 of 1, added on September 19th, 2005 at 7:32 AM.
In Wild Iris, the collection, Gluck takes the garden as a metaphor for life-in-the-world (with all the resonance of Garden of Eden etc) . In the garden we hear voices of the flowers who are subject to mortal existence, budding, flowering, fading, dying away. Like humans (like the Old Testament psalmists) the flowers complain about their lot : why should they be picked out for existence, why flourish, why die? Sometimes the poet seems to want to speak in her own voice. Sometimes, the Father replies, not always very charitably. He is losing interest in his creation. Apparently He is irritated or bored. Also in the garden (in Wild Iris the collection) there appear the figures of two men, husband and son. bent over the flower beds weeding. Gardening is an analogy for life and work, for the general contingency of living. It is difficult to establish who or what is speaking as there
are conflicting voices making themselves heard.
The poems are full of a sense of disappointment and loss, but also a kind of lucid courage. Sometimes the poet herself addresses the father, as a child who addresses an adult who is not listening, knowing she is unlikely to capture his attention and get an answer.A devout religious sense (not at all orthodox ) seems to be at work here, without much to go on, much "feedback" from beyond. Needs reading
Patrick Early from United Kingdom
Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The Gold Lily, has received one comment so far. Click here to read it, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Louise Gluck with others on the American Poems poetry forum!
|
Comments
In Wild Iris, the collection, Gluck takes the garden as a metaphor for life-in-the-world (with all the resonance of Garden of Eden etc) . In the garden we hear voices of the flowers who are subject to mortal existence, budding, flowering, fading, dying away. Like humans (like the Old Testament psalmists) the flowers complain about their lot : why should they be picked out for existence, why flourish, why die? Sometimes the poet seems to want to speak in her own voice. Sometimes, the Father replies, not always very charitably. He is losing interest in his creation. Apparently He is irritated or bored. Also in the garden (in Wild Iris the collection) there appear the figures of two men, husband and son. bent over the flower beds weeding. Gardening is an analogy for life and work, for the general contingency of living. It is difficult to establish who or what is speaking as there
are conflicting voices making themselves heard.
The poems are full of a sense of disappointment and loss, but also a kind of lucid courage. Sometimes the poet herself addresses the father, as a child who addresses an adult who is not listening, knowing she is unlikely to capture his attention and get an answer.A devout religious sense (not at all orthodox ) seems to be at work here, without much to go on, much "feedback" from beyond. Needs reading
Patrick Early from United Kingdom