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Often regarded as one of America’s most talented and accomplished contemporary poets, Louise Glück writes about the self like no other. Her poeticism stems from the voices of Plath, Berryman, and Lowell, exploring the struggles of life. Often writing on themes such as mortality, divorce, and loneliness, Glück universalizes personal experiences in a moving and rich way. In 2020, Glück won the Nobel Prize in Literature, "the first American-born poet to hold this title since T.S Eliot in 1948" (Risen). Glück was born in New York City in 1943, the eldest daughter of Daniel and Beatrice Glück. She went on to study at Sarah Lawrence college in Bronxville, New York, and eventually Columbia University in New York City.
Glück started out like many others, working as a secretary during the week and writing poetry in her free time. By 1968, she published her first book of poems, Firstborn, which explored love and loss. Glück went on to publish fourteen more books of poems, several of which won many awards. She began teaching poetry in Goddard College in Vermont, but eventually taught at both Harvard and Yale. Former student, Lucy Silbaugh described Glück’s mentorship as “discerning and exact,” her comments often resembling “poems themselves because they are so striking and offhandedly brilliant.” (YaleNews, 2023). She was highly regarded among her faculty and students, offering a mentorship that was unforgettable and deeply honest.
Glück grew up in Woodmere, on the South Shore of Long Island. Glück was an intensely intellectual child, but was overly self-critical that at an early age, "she developed anorexia and dropped to 75 pounds before going to therapy." (NYT). During this time, she studied under poets Léonie Adams and Stanley Kunitz, even though her condition made it difficult for her to attend college. Before Glück was born, her parents had a child who tragically passed. Glück wrote “Her death was not my experience, but her absence was [...] her death let me be born.” (Chiasson) That severity of judgment is typical of Glück, who often pares experience down to brutal cause and effect. Glück sought her mother’s approval exclusively, an approval that was usually withheld. In 1968, Glück wrote her first book titled "Firstborn." (Chiasson). A year prior, (1967), Glück married her first husband whom she met while at Columbia University but their relationship did not last long as they divorced.
Fig 1. Photograph by Fred W. McDarrah / Getty
In 1973, Glück gave birth to a son, Noah, with her partner, Keith Monley, who helped raise him for the first two years of his life. Her marriage to Charles Hertz, Jr. had ended in divorce, and in 1977 she married John Dranow, an author who had started the summer writing program at Goddard College. Glück is survived by her son and two granddaughters as she sadly passed away on Friday, October 13, 2023. Her passing was quick as she was diagnosed with untreatable cancer and she died only 10 days later. Langdon Hammer stated, "She wrote to me on October 3rd with “some bad news." Glück wrote in the letter, “I’m calm. I’m 80. I’ve had an amazing life.” (The American Scholar).
Deeply introspective and unrelentingly honest, Glück's poetry dives into the complexities of identity and the human condition. Her writing style is sparse or even economical in her usage of language, yet she writes confrontationally about human truths. Glück's poetry is characterized often by motifs of nature, yet she uses these motifs to explore inner landscapes (see, "The Hawthorn Tree"). Her poeticism is deeply vulnerable, often confronting issues of identity, love, and loss. Glück's poetry resonates with many readers, as it lends itself to the exploration of the inner self. Through her unflinching honesty and deeply personal writing, Glück invites the reader to confront her own fears as well as their own. The Nobel committee regarded Glück for her "unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal" (Stanford).
Awards
Awards
In 1993 Glück won a Pulitzer Prize for The Wild Iris (1992)
In 2001 she was awarded the Bollingen Prize for Poetry.
In 2008, she received the Wallace Stevens Award and was rewarded $100,000 for her writing.
In 2020, she won The Nobel Prize in Literature, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world.
Louise Glück published The Wild Iris which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. "The Wild Iris’" is the title poem for her 1992 collection. This collection demonstrates her visionary poetics. Written in three segments, the book is set in a garden and imagines three voices: the gardener-poet, flowers speaking to the gardener-poet, and an omniscient god-like figure. It comprehends death differently than humanity does and shares its understanding. This volume follows a specific sequence, poem to poem, describing the poet’s garden.
Glück went on to publish her book Vita Nova in 1993, which won the Bollingen Prize in 2001. The Bollingen Prize is an American literary honor that recognizes a poet for their best new volume of work or lifetime achievement. The judges wrote, “In the work of no other contemporary American poet is the individual psyche so unsparingly portrayed, in both the anguish and the humor with which it confronts its profound solitude and the twin darknesses which precede birth and follow life… [Glück] deals with powerful emotions, expressed in a language of surpassing clarity and spareness, full of passion and devoid of sentiment.” (YaleNews, 2011)
In 2008, she also received the Wallace Stevens Award and was rewarded $100,000 for her writing style. Robert Pinsky stated, "Louise sometimes uses language so plain it can almost seem like someone is speaking to you spontaneously—but it's always intensely distinguished,... in every turn, every sentence, every line, something goes somewhere a little different, or very different, from where you thought it would." (YaleNews, 2011)
Glück won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020. The Nobel Prize in Literature is one of the highest accolades in writing. Glück holds the title Nobel Laureate along with other famous writers such as T.S Eliot, Toni Morrison, and William Golding.
Glück's profound insights into the complexities of existence has landed her among the most esteemed contemporary poets. Her poetry will act as a source of solace and contemplation for future generations to come, her written work embodying her legacy.
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Works Cited
Chiasson, Dan. “The Body Artist.” The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2012, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/11/12/the-body-artist.
Feder, Sandra. “Poet and Stanford Visiting Professor Louise Glück Wins Nobel Prize in Literature.” Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, 9 Oct. 2020, humsci.stanford.edu/feature/poet-and-stanford-visiting-professor-louise-gluck-wins-nobel-prize-literature#:~:text=U.S.%20poet%20Louise%20Gl%C3%BCck%2C%20a,beauty%20makes%20individual%20existence%20universal.%22.
“Louise Glück, Author at the American Scholar.” The American Scholar, 8 Oct. 2020, theamericanscholar.org/author/louise-gluck/
“Louise Gluck Wins Bollingen Prize in Poetry.” YaleNews, 12 Sept. 2011, news.yale.edu/2001/02/20/louise-gluck-wins-bollingen-prize-poetry.
“Louise Glück, Nobel Laureate and Beloved Yale Mentor.” YaleNews, 14 Oct. 2023, news.yale.edu/2023/10/13/louise-gluck-nobel-laureate-and-beloved-yale-mentor.
Risen, Clay. “Louise Glück, 80, Nobel-Winning Poet Who Explored Trauma and Loss, Dies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/books/louise-gluck-dead.html.
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Contributers: Meadow Stanley and Gabriela Rodriguez
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