Book Review 1

Reading the poetry book Averno, by Louise Gluck, helped me to realize why this assignment requires us to not simply review an anthology, but a book of singular poems which an author placed in the same text specifically because they mean something more significant together that they could explain apart. The main theme contained by Averno is found in the concept of Greek Mythology; in fact, according to the beginning of Gluck’s book, the work’s title itself comes from the ancient word “Avernus”, the name of a small crater lake near Naples, Italy. The ancient Romans believed this lake was an entrance to the Underworld. That being said, the title of Gluck’s book sets the stage for the rest of its progression, as many of the poems it contains regard the story of Persephone. According to Greek Mythology, Persephone, daughter of the Greek Goddess Demeter, was abducted by the God Hades, and force thereafter to live with him in the Underworld. One of my favorite poem’s in Averno is called Part “October.” Two stanzas in the piece read as follows:

Persephone’s initial
Sojourn in hell continues to be
Pawed over by scholars who dispute
The sensations of the virgin:

Did she cooperate in her rape,
Or was she drugged, violated against her will,
As happens so often now to modern girls.

We learned in class that modernist Ezra Pound is famous for his proclamation, “make it new.” This is one of the qualities great poetry has: the use of language in such a way that shows a subject – be it an object or concept – at an angle rarely considered. It is for this reason that I love the above stanzas; in them, Gluck makes the story of Persephone new. I have only ever heard of the character being kidnapped forcefully by Hades, leaving her mother behind to mourn. “October,” however, brings up the possibility that perhaps a part of Persephone wanted to be abducted. In addition, it compares a story of ancient mythology to the situation of young girls living within a contemporary society; this too is interesting to readers, as it is not a comparison one would usually draw. In short, Gluck provides her readers with a less often told version of Persephone’s tale, creating it from her own imagination as opposed to solely the rumination of scholars.

Although there are some poems within Gluck’s book that seem unrelated to Greek Mythology at first glance, a closer look reveals the inherent connection they have to it. Part 4 of Gluck’s poem, “Prism,” for example, reads:

When you fall in love, my sister said,
it’s like being struck by lightning.

I reminded her that she was repeating exactly
our mother’s formula, which she and I

had discussed in childhood, because we both felt
that what we were looking at in the adults

were the effects not of lightning
but of the electric chair.

Although the above words seem more related to Gluck’s own girlhood than to Greek Mythology, readers must keep in mind the mixed feelings “Prism” contains about love, portraying it at first as a romantic strike of lightning, and later, as an electrically caused death. This theme seems to be to have a lot to do with the mixed feelings Gluck describes Persephone as feeling towards her captor throughout the poet’s various pieces. The relationship between Persephone and the God is also described as both romantic and dangerous; according to Gluck, though Hades violently abducted Persephone, she grew to care for him. My favorite example of this duality is found in the poem “A Myth of Innocence.” The piece reads:


No one understands anymore
How beautiful he was. But Persephone remembers.
Also that he embraced her, right there,
With her uncle watching. She remembers
Sunlight flashing on his bare arms

She stands by the pool saying, from time to time,
I was abducted, but it sounds
Wrong to her, nothing like what she felt.

Reading the above lines makes it easy to understand that Persephone believed Hades to be her abductor, but also as someone beautiful and worth loving. Gluck’s ability to humanize the historically darkly portrayed God is by far my favorite aspect of Averno. I would highly recommend this book of poetry, especially to individuals who enjoy free verse, longer poems, and an elusive tone. I also advise, however, that readers without much knowledge of Greek Mythology do a little research before beginning Gluck’s book; otherwise they might find themselves a little confused and overwhelmed.