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Poets/Louise Glück

Louise Glück

1943–2023

Poems
48
Reader comments
29
Portrait of Louise Glück
Louise Glück 1943–2023
1943Born

Biography

Louise Glück (born April 22, 1943) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal" in October 2020.

She is the author of nine books of poetry, including The Seven Ages (Ecco Press, 2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker magazine's Book Award in Poetry; Meadowlands (1996); The Wild Iris (1992), which received the Pulitzer Prize and the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award; Ararat (1990), which received the Library of Congress's Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry; and The Triumph of Achilles (1985), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Boston Globe Literary Press Award, and the Poetry Society of America's Melville Kane Award. Louise Glück has also published a collection of essays, Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994), which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction. From 2003 to 2004, she was Poet Laureate of the United States.

Reading closely

Analyses

A full analysis sits under one of these poems: what the poem says, how it is built and how readers here have read it. About the analyses

Nostos

Nostos is a short free-verse poem about memory and the place where the speaker grew up. It appears in the collection Meadowlands. The speaker recalls an apple tree, meadows and crocuses from "forty years ago." She then doubts her own memory and notes how the place has changed.

Read the analysis

From readers

What readers say about Louise Glück

  1. On The Red Poppy

    “Red Poppy shows the innermost feeling of the poet.Fire is burning in her heart like the fire of the sun.Before being human, people of this world whom she addresses as brothers and sisters were not human.This is allegorical.She is speaking now because she is shattered This is a reflection of the…”

  2. On All Hallows

    “All Hallows, the 1st of November in the Church calendar, has been chosen to reflect the end if the farming season with the harvesting of produce complete. "The hills Darken" may be a nod to the fact that around this date the daily shortening of daylight is at its fastest. The fields are now barren…”

  3. On First Memory

    “I agree. It is a wonderful poem. I was in Language Arts today when my teacher shared it with us (luckily, just for fun, or I might not like it). When I heard it, I immediately understood. A classmate said that she couldn't get it, but I did right away. I love this poem now. It has calmed my heart.…”

  4. On Love Poem

    “I feel as if I know the man this poem was written about, and his mother; red scarves and brick walls make good use of pain but don't compensate for a "widowed heart" in cold storage”

  5. On Siren

    “This poem is ridiculously amazing. It works even better in the context of "Meadowlands", her book that any person who has ever enjoyed poetry or watched a relationship disintegrate will cherish. As she is such a master of every minute detail, I request you change your presentation of this poem. You…”

  6. On Horse

    “hi louise gluck I really do like your poem ''Horse''.I really do think that it's a very good poem from you. I wanted to ask you a question,have you ever written other poems instead of the ones you have on the internet? well i got to go bye ashly”

Where readers gather

Most discussed

  1. Nostos8 comments
  2. The Red Poppy4 comments
  3. First Memory2 comments
  4. Love Poem2 comments
  5. All Hallows1 comment
  6. Confession1 comment
  7. Elms1 comment
  8. Horse1 comment
  9. Labor Day1 comment
  10. Odysseus' Decision1 comment

All 48 poems

The House on the Marshland · 1975 · 2 poems
  1. Poem
  2. The Pond1
Descending Figure · 1980 · 3 poems
  1. Happiness
  2. Portrait
  3. The Fear Of Burial
Ararat · 1990 · 6 poems
  1. A Fantasy
  2. First Memory2
  3. Lullaby
  4. Saints
  5. Snow
  6. Widows
The Wild Iris · 1992 · 9 poems
  1. The Red Poppy19924
  2. Vespers1992
  3. April1993
  4. Early Darkness1993
  5. Matins1993
  6. Retreating Wind1993
  7. Snowdrops1993
  8. The White Lilies19931
  9. The Wild Iris19931
Meadowlands · 1996 · 7 poems
  1. Cana
  2. Nostos8
  3. Odysseus' Decision1
  4. Parable Of Faith
  5. Parable Of The Dove
  6. The Butterfly1
  7. The Wish
Other poems · 21
  1. All Hallows1
  2. Castile
  3. Celestial Music
  4. Circe's Grief
  5. Circe's Power
  6. Circe's Torment
  7. Confession1
  8. Elms1
  9. Horse1
  10. Labor Day1
  11. Love Poem2
  12. Midnight
  13. Parousia
  14. Penelope's Song
  15. Siren1
  16. Summer
  17. The Garden
  18. The Gold Lily1
  19. The Silver Lily
  20. The Triumph Of Achilles1
  21. The Untrustworthy Speaker