Meadowlands

by Louise Gluck

Paperback, 1997

Status

Available

Call number

811.54

Publication

Ecco (1997), Edition: 1, Paperback, 80 pages

Description

In her first new book of poems since she won the Pulitzer Prize for The Wild Iris, Louise Gluck brilliantly interweavesin an astonishing book-length sequence - the dissolution of a contemporary marriage with the story of The Odyssey. Meadowlands is by turns tolerant, expansive, bracingly comic and, finally, heartbreaking. Shifting between the mythic and the modern, Louise Gluck teaches us to look at The Odyssey in a new and unexpected manner. Here we find Penelope stubbornly weaving, transforming waiting into an act of will; here, too, a shrewd preternaturally knowing adolescent Telemachus, a divided Odysseus, a worldly Circe. A modern couple also occupies these poems, engaged in the endless negotiation of contemporary domestic realities rendered in an ongoing conversation, eternally unresolved, rich with the charged trivia of daily life.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rmckeown
This volume of poetry is part of my reading assignments for a graduate poetry seminar. These connected poems weave through Homer’s Odyssey with appearances by Penelope, Telemachus, Odysseus, Circe, the Sirens, Greek soldiers, along with a few references to the Bible. The overarching theme is loss
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and separation and sadness.

Glück connects these serial poems (the subject of the assignment) with a variety of threads – birds, flowers, music – and a series of parables on the king, hostages, a trellis, a beast, a dove, flight, swans, faith, and a gift.

Quoting individual poems in the series will not give the flavor or the unity of this collection, but there were a few outstanding lines that especially struck me. For example, “from this point on, the silence through which you move/is my voice pursuing you” (5); “change your form and you change your nature/And time does this to us” (32); and “if I am in her head forever/I am in your life forever” (46).

Part of the fun of this collection is piecing together these individual poems and seeing how they fit into the overall narrative of Homer’s epic poem.

A great collection of poetry – even for those who do not read a lot of poetry. 5 stars

--Jim, 7/2/09
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LibraryThing member abirdman
I consider this Gluck's best book-- tender, funny, engaged, hopeful, with some classical themes and very modern at the same time.
LibraryThing member lilysreads
I read this collection for a class, and although I don't understand poetry the greatest, there definitely were a few that spoke to me and that I found to be really nice. All in all, this collection was pretty great.
LibraryThing member treehorse
I picked this up as a possible source for a term paper in 2008. I knew a few poems in that it wouldn't work out, but I liked enough of what I read to finish it.
Sadly, I can't remember any more of what I thought while reading this. I distinctly recall loving a few of the lines, but nothing really
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stands out for me now. My own rating from 2008 gives this a 4/5.
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Awards

LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Poetry — 1996)

Language

Physical description

80 p.; 8.98 inches

ISBN

0880015063 / 9780880015066
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