Gluck and a little Altieri

I found these early Gluck poems to be a little disappointing. I've not read much of Gluck's work, but I recall liking the poems I had read. From what I've heard about Gluck, I was under the impression that her poems were strong, hard-hitting, searing--but many of these poems seem timid, even sentimental. The speaker often seems very vulnerable which makes me wonder if when Gluck takes on the voice of a character (other than the "character" which seems a representation of Gluck herself) it is as a thin veil for her own feelings, as a way to render herself less exposed. I guess, also, I'm a little puzzled as to why I'm resistant to this vulnerable speaker, as I normally like confessional-like, personal "I" poetry. I think I see the speaker in these poems as very unsure of herself, almost afraid to get at what she really wants to say. I like the idea that these poems represent the speaker's struggle to assert herself, to break free, yet, I find the process of this struggle frustrating--I want to the speaker in the poem to overcome. And so I wonder if these early poems can be seen as steps toward the speaker (and perhaps the poet) "coming into her own." The poem "Liberation" definitely seems to suggest something of this nature. I realize that I'm lumping all of these poems together and that this isn't the fairest method of assessment, and I don't mean to suggest that Gluck doesn't have her moments. I find part two of "The Garden," for example to be much more assertive, yet also subtle and deft in this assertion. The speaker seems in control. I love the end in which the speaker refers to the stone animals saying, "Admit that is terrible to be like them, / beyond harm." This strikes me as direct, yet not sentimental.

Yet, even as I'm noticing when I find Gluck's poems to be the deftest, I wonder if this is when they most conform to Altieri's scenic style. In describing the scenic style, Altieri writes (on page 10 of his article): "...the poems must clearly illustrate the controlling hand of the craftsman, but the craft must remain subtle and unobtrusive." It does seem that when I appreciate Gluck the most it is when she shows this control, when the poem seems "crafted," yet subtle. So, I wonder then if I've only learned to see a "good" poem as one that exhibits these qualities and if this is why I am resistant to Gluck when she seems less in control or more obvious. But even if I've been primed to accept the scenic style as good, doesn't necessarily invalidate the scenic style's criterion of what a poem should do. I just think (as we've talked about many times over the quarter) that how exactly we come to evaluate something as subjective as poetry is worth thinking about.