9 pages • 18 minutes read
Louise GlückA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Gretel’s persona is the main voice. Poets use this tactic to imagine the psychological and emotional perspective of another person—whether real or fictitious. In this case, using Gretel offers an interesting tension for Glück to write from: that of surviving and coping. Because the original tale takes place in a fantastical world with witches, candy houses, and mythical possibilities, it allows Glück to contrast those elements with the real-world consequences of death and family disruption. Rather than making this a poem about her own direct experience with death, she uses the point of view of a young girl who is universally known to have escaped danger. Within the poem, Glück complicates what it means to be a survivor—even in the mythical realm of a children’s fairy tale.
Glück utilizes a subtle sense of rhyme and rhythm through assonance (similar sounding vowels) and consonance (similar sounding consonants). In doing so, the poem creates an organic flow of musicality, which helps to soften the darker and deeper elements at the forefront of the poem.
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