Louise Gluck - Gretel in Darkness

In ?Gretel in Darkness,? Louise Gluck utilizes a first person narration. The poem is composed of dark imagery and uses symbols representing death. ?This is the world we wanted. All who would have seen us dead. Are dead.? The title ?Gretel in Darkness? portrays the main character, which is probably the speaker, to be engulfed by darkness. The tone of the poem is full of urgency, bitterness, and violence. ?I hear the witch's cry ? Her tongue shrivels into gas....? is an image that illustrates the anguish of death. Gretel has killed something or someone for her brother. ?To leave, as though it never happened. But I killed for you.? She did not accomplish the task for her sake, but rather for the sake of her brother and in the end her brother abandons her. ?Am I alone? Spies Hiss in the stillness, Hansel we are there still, and it is real, real.? By the end of the poem, Gretel is all alone. ?That black forest, and the fire in earnest,? is an image that portrays how she feels. The black forest is a metaphor connecting Gretel to her inner thoughts. She has done something immoral and now she is regretting her actions. Like a black forest, she is alone, engulf by darkness and thoughts of bitterness. Gretel?s gender is unknown, nonetheless, we can assume she is a female. It is more likely for a girl to desire comfort or to held by some one. Nights I turn to you to hold me but you are not there. Gretel is not familiar to have such feelings. She has always been secured; she was raised without ever being hungry or the need to work to the point where she is lacking sleep. ?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.?