Gretel in Darkness
By Louise Gluck Gretel
This is the world we wanted.
All who would have seen us dead
are dead. I hear the witch’s cry
break in the moonlight through a sheet
of sugar: God rewards.
Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .
Now, far from women’s arms
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.
No one remembers. Even you, my brother,
summer afternoons you look at me as though
you meant to leave,
as though it never happened.
But I killed for you. I see armed firs,
the spires of that gleaming kiln–
Nights I turn to you to hold me
but you are not there.
Am I alone? Spies
hiss in the stillness, Hansel,
we are there still and it is real, real,
that black forest and the fire in earnest.
Summary of Gretel in Darkness
- Popularity of “Gretel in Darkness”: The poem Gretel in Darkness by Louise Gluck Gretel, an American writer, teacher, and poet, first appeared in her collection, The House of Marshland, in 1975. Despite its seductive simplicity, the poem hits the readers hard on account of the fusion of a fairy tale in the main idea of the poem. Herein lies the reason behind the popularity of this poem.
- “Gretel in Darkness” As a Representative of Traumatic Experience and Feminine Responsibility: Although the poem shows the fusion of Gretel and Hansel’s fairy tale with the last name of the poem, it highlights the role of a female in the survival ordeal of the male members of the family. The speaker states that although all people are dead, she still hears the cry of the witch that used to come to terrify her brother, Hansel. She recalls her father saving them and making them safe, but nobody in the family now recalls that hut or her father. She addresses her brother to recall those moments when she saved him by killing the witch, and still, she is ready to do the same in case there is a real “black forest.” The main idea of the feminine responsibility of saving the family emerges in the final stanza of the poem.
- Major Themes in “Gretel in Darkness”: Survival, folk wisdom and traumatic experience are three major themes of the poem. Although the father saved both the poet as well as her brother, she still remembers it, while her brother has put everything into oblivion. She remembers that she has saved her brother from that witch by killing the witch, who was a traumatic experience in itself. The folk wisdom that lies in this fairy tale adopted for this poem is that females are responsible for the survival of the family. They save male members from enabling them to take up the responsibilities of the families, but they even forget everything, while the women suffer from traumatic experiences of putting their lives in danger to save the patriarchy.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Gretel in Darkness
Louise Gluck Gretel used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices used in this poem are as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “This is the world we wanted” and the sound of /o/ in “All who would have seen us dead.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick successions, such as the sound of /w/ in “world we wanted” and /f/ in “far from.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /m/ in “Now, far from women’s arms” and the sound of /t/ in “Nights I turn to you to hold me.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
My father bars the door, bars harm
from this house, and it is years.
- Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. This poem seems ironic in that her father saves the hut, but she saves her brother and feels traumatic.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “and memory of women, in our father’s hut”, “My father bars the door, bars harm” and “summer afternoons you look at me as though.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poem shows the use of harm as a metaphor for the witch that plans to harm them.
- Rhetorical Question: It is a type of question posed not to elicit an answer but to stress the main idea. This poem shows the use of rhetorical questions in the last stanza, “Am I alone?” and in the second stanza, such as “Why do I not forget?”
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as moonlight, cry, witch, and tongue to show the lurking danger.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Gretel in Darkness
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: It means the use of language and tone. The poem shows formal and simple language, but the tone is tragic as well as traumatic.
- Free Verse: It means the verses without having any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. “Gretel in Darkness” was written in free verse without any rhyme scheme.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem, with each comprising six verses.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the childhood period.
No one remembers. Even you, my brother,
summer afternoons you look at me as though
you meant to leave,
as though it never happened.
