Glück, Louise - Vijay Seshadri (essay date 1996)

Vijay Seshadri (essay date 1996)

SOURCE: "The Woe That Is in Marriage," in The New Yorker, May 13, 1996, pp. 93-4.

[In this review of Meadowlands, Seshadri suggests that Glück's considerable lyric expertise and meticulous craft have been tempered by an earthiness and humor.]

Even before Louise Glück's new volume, Meadowlands was published, admirers could be heard describing it, somewhat incongruously, as a "funny" book, with the implication that this represented a significant aesthetic departure. There was something faintly comic in itself about this advance word, which had to do with the inexpert way that people try to generate excitement about a book of poetry. It's a fact that our most accomplished poets can be at least as entertaining as a good "Seinfeld" episode, yet when poetry lovers say as much their claims are often greeted with skepticism. And for readers who are addicted to Glück's ironic inflections, her stern...

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