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82nd out of 116 books
—
23 voters
Vita Nova
Since, 1990, Louise Gluck has been exploring a form that is, according to poet Robert Hass, her invention. Vita Nova -- like its immediate predecessors, a book-length sequence -- combines the ecstatic utterance of The Wild Iris with the worldly dramas elaborated in Meadowlands. Vita Nova is a book that exists in the long moment of spring, a book of deaths and beginnings, r...more
Paperback, 64 pages
Published
March 6th 2001
by Ecco
(first published 1999)
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Surely spring has been returned to me, this time
not as a lover but a messenger of death, yet
it is still spring, it is meant tenderly.
A slim little book that circles around death, and loss, particularly women loved and forsaken or lost: the voice of the poet herself (presumably), mixed with that of Eurydice, Dido, Penelope, and the men that left them; Aeneas who has enough love already in the very blood that runs in his veins; Orpheus (I have lost my Eurydice, / I have lost my lover, / and sudden...more
Different form/content from her other books that I've read--several poems use a question/answer format, and dreams and abstraction strike me as her new themes.
Interesting epigram--"The master said you must write what you see / But what I see does not move me / The master answered Change what you see." I'm wondering if her restlessness with her typical subjects (as alluded to by this epigram) is what prompted the focus on more abstract content and more interior content (dreams).
An intensely unhap...more
Interesting epigram--"The master said you must write what you see / But what I see does not move me / The master answered Change what you see." I'm wondering if her restlessness with her typical subjects (as alluded to by this epigram) is what prompted the focus on more abstract content and more interior content (dreams).
An intensely unhap...more
the review says it best, so i'll clip it:
These are poems of rebirth, but of a particular kind--not of hope, and certainly not of youth, but of something far more important: poetry itself. In "The Nest," as Glück emerges from her grief, she feels her mind once again engage with the world, thinking "first, I love it. / Then, I can use it."
there is a true journal feel to Gluck - that may be part of why i love her so. she is willing to stay with and come back to and punch through things i can rarely...more
These are poems of rebirth, but of a particular kind--not of hope, and certainly not of youth, but of something far more important: poetry itself. In "The Nest," as Glück emerges from her grief, she feels her mind once again engage with the world, thinking "first, I love it. / Then, I can use it."
there is a true journal feel to Gluck - that may be part of why i love her so. she is willing to stay with and come back to and punch through things i can rarely...more
On the hierarchy of her own work, I'd put this collection between "The Wild Iris" and "Seven Ages." Not quite her best, but not my least favorite either. Moments of utter brilliance. Moments that felt a little more stagey. Also, an unexpected humor in parts that felt wry after so much of Gluck's trademark intensity: from "Condo:" "...I hate / When your own dreams treat you as stupid," from "Mutable Earth:" "In the bathtub, I examine my body / We're supposed to do that." Noticed the constant upwa...more
This line hurt me: "You changed me, you should remember me." The poem "Unwritten Law," although nothing super-duper-fresh or astonishingly original, also struck a chord with me.
Gluck is a master of colloquial language and the stream-of-consciousness mode. Her lines dance nimbly, very nimbly, between loosely connected thoughts; she skates with ease between past and present, dream and reality, inner life and outer life, all while maintaining an appealing comprehensibility/accessibility. (By the wa...more
Gluck is a master of colloquial language and the stream-of-consciousness mode. Her lines dance nimbly, very nimbly, between loosely connected thoughts; she skates with ease between past and present, dream and reality, inner life and outer life, all while maintaining an appealing comprehensibility/accessibility. (By the wa...more
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I love Louise Glück. I have for quite awhile, even before I saw her read at Boston University. I've read her earlier work: all the books of poetry through Ararat, although that was quite awhile ago. I decided to read Vita Nova because of the title; I'd been going through a rough week that felt like a death -- the death of who I thought I was, the death of hopes, the death of dream -- and I was looking for a new life.
I can't say I found it. At least not through this book. Allegedly, this book chr...more
I can't say I found it. At least not through this book. Allegedly, this book chr...more
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having just reread all of my gluck collection, i understand now why this one is my least favorite of her volumes although it contains several of my favorite poems. partly, it is the language. there is much of her famous stiffness here, and lines that should feel profound are forced, begin to feel like platitude. i believe now that stiffness is due to this work being her most anguished. in truth i do not understand this whole collection, what exactly is holding it together, and my favorite poems...more
I can see why Gluck was the Poet Laureate of the U. S. Some of her poems made me go, wow. Not in all caps, but still a little wow. It was a very quick read. The drawback: it's predictable. After a while, I was like, I've heard this before. It's good poetry, don't get me wrong, but it's good poetry that we know as good poetry.
Some jumped out at me more, but she uses words that seem too big for poetry. Can't decide how I feel, torn because of her great acclaim and my like of her other works.
Liked esp. "Castile" "Inferno" "The Burning Heart"
Liked esp. "Castile" "Inferno" "The Burning Heart"
This is a a collection of poems by my favorite poet Louise Gluck. While there are some good things to think about, for me it doesn't come close to her collection of poems, Wild Iris, which she won the Pulitzer Prize for.
There are a lot of references to mythology in here, and I needed a reference by me. I generally don't like when poems refer to other literature. A poem should be able to stand on it's own.
The poems had a conversational tone.
There were a couple of gems in here though: "Aubade" an...more
There are a lot of references to mythology in here, and I needed a reference by me. I generally don't like when poems refer to other literature. A poem should be able to stand on it's own.
The poems had a conversational tone.
There were a couple of gems in here though: "Aubade" an...more
This is my favorite Gluck book of those I've read (not nearly all). I don't know what my favorite is among those I have not read yet. I love the fun she has with the lyric tradition. People so often misread her as this uber-sincere, confessional writer, when I think she actually skewers the personal lyric tradition more cogently and hilariously than so many avant-garde poets (who tend to be much more ham-fisted in their attacks). The way she gets herself out of this collection (the final poem) i...more
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Change what you see..
Okay, but no Wild Iris.
This was suggested to me when I asked for books and poetry about breakups that honored the former sweetheart as well as the process of getting over the end of a very good relationship.
This books filled that bill, but not the way I really expected it to. The poems focused on the first person, and the narrator's journey, both inner and outer. This is a book that'll bear re-reading. All the poems spoke to me, but I couldn't always make out the message.
This books filled that bill, but not the way I really expected it to. The poems focused on the first person, and the narrator's journey, both inner and outer. This is a book that'll bear re-reading. All the poems spoke to me, but I couldn't always make out the message.
A serious series, there is something happening in this book.
I don't know what is happening, what it's about, but I get the feeling I could probably figure it out if I wanted to.
Gluck's line breaks are UGLY.
I don't know what is happening, what it's about, but I get the feeling I could probably figure it out if I wanted to.
Gluck's line breaks are UGLY.
I love Louise Gluck, but found this book to be a little tiresome. There's something about poets rewriting Greek and Roman myths that gets under my skin.
Slim but never glib, Glueck's poems are at once grounded and ethereal. Challenging, finely chiseled poems.
This is one book of poetry I will never, ever ever depart with. I love it so much!
Not my favorite Louis Gluck book, but still a worthwhile read.
I keep trying, but I just don't like her poetry. Oh well.
title poem from this collection is amaaaaazing
May 18, 2013
Ashley Jeffs
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Doc99
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William
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review of another edition
Shelves:
american-poetry,
poetry
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Glück was born in New York City of Hungarian Jewish heritage and grew up on Long Island. Glück attended Sarah Lawrence College and later Columbia University.
Glück is the author of twelve books of poetry, including: "A Village Life" (2009); Averno (2006), which was a finalist for The National Book Award; The Seven Ages (2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker's Book Award in Poetr...more
More about Louise Glück...
Glück is the author of twelve books of poetry, including: "A Village Life" (2009); Averno (2006), which was a finalist for The National Book Award; The Seven Ages (2001); Vita Nova (1999), which was awarded The New Yorker's Book Award in Poetr...more
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