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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
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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