POETRY ANALYSIS FGJ - #1

[Cookie Monster]

Gretel in Darkness

This is the world we wanted.
All who would have seen us dead
are dead. I hear the witch's cry
break in the moonlight through a sheet
of sugar: God rewards.
Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .

Now, far from women's arms
and memory of women, in our father's hut
we sleep, are never hungry.
Why do I not forget?
My father bars the door, bars harm
from this house, and it is years.

No one remembers. Even you, my brother,
summer afternoons you look at me as though
you meant to leave,
as though it never happened.
But I killed for you. I see armed firs,
the spires of that gleaming kiln--

Nights I turn to you to hold me
but you are not there.
Am I alone? Spies
hiss in the stillness, Hansel,
we are there still and it is real, real,
that black forest and the fire in earnest.

- Louise Gluck



Go on, tear it to shreds as we discussed in the other thread, fgj.

 

[Tennyo]

Oh my, I really like this. A very dark twist on an old familiar fable. It kind of seems to me that Gretel is having post-traumatic stress about pushing the witch into the fire, or maybe just the whole ordeal in general. What with their father turning them out before hand (because of the step mom, right?)

 

[Cookie Monster]

Well, I'll give you a clue, the poem is actually about WWII.

 

[kunoichi]

After reading this I've suddenly come across all emo. You take an interest in the happenings of WWII then or was it just an idea?

 

[Tennyo]

[quote author=Cookie Monster link=topic=521.msg22890#msg22890 date=1235552054]
Well, I'll give you a clue, the poem is actually about WWII.
[/quote]

Ah. Not that I think about it it could apply. Hansel and Gretel are the soldiers on the battlefield, then? Are they Nazis or Allies?

 

[tangerine]

[quote author=Cookie Monster link=topic=521.msg22890#msg22890 date=1235552054]
Well, I'll give you a clue, the poem is actually about WWII.
[/quote]
This poem was read while I was studying poetry a while back and not once was WWII mentioned. Explain where you found your information, please.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Well, I may have confused you a little. It's actually about the Holocaust, which is obviously linked to WWII. Maybe you guys can see the connection within the poem now?

 

[tangerine]

I'll grant a "connection", but you should know that it only seems that way when you tell people. Try to pick a poem that doesn't require an outside source of information next time, just so that it's not impossible for people to see.

I still want your source of information, as well.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Well, the connection to the Holocaust was actually something discovered in a poetry class two years ago just reading the poem. Collectively the students and the professor explained their thoughts on the poem, and that's the analysis the class came up with. The professor also mentioned a published book that further discussed the various themes of Gluck's poetry. Next time I see the professor, I'll ask her about it.

Clearly now, there are various interpretations of this particular poem, literal, historical, etc. So, I'm also interested in the interpretation that you discovered in your studies.

 

[tangerine]

Like Tennyo I initially thought that it was Hansel and Gretel from the tale, but I then thought that it had much more meaning to it then just the inner turmoil Gretel goes through afterward. I came to see it as a portrayal of the psychological disasters that occur within ourselves that spur either from guilt or from shock, even if the act or acts committed or seen were justified, reflecting how fragile the mind can be. I could also see the way these incidents change not only ourselves but our perceptions and the way we infer our surroundings (in this case dramatically).

I do recall one student relating the psychological effects to that of PTSD and war, but were never told that the poem was actually to do with war, let alone WWII or the Holocaust. I wasn't criticizing you, by the way, I was simply asking for a source in case we actually missed that. (Just on the chance that I was misinterpreted.)

 

[darkenedsoul]

You say it's about WWII but that was just your interpretation, not necessarily the author's reasoning. I believe it's more tied to the fairytale, perhaps not actually about the real Gretal, but someone who has been a victim in some way, but cannot find help from anyone. Her brother seems to believe it never happened and her father is almost paranoid about it happening again, so she must find comfort in herself.