At the end of my suffering / there was a door. —”The Wild Iris” by Louise Glück

On October 8, 2020, Louise Glück was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.” A prolific and celebrated poet, she is the first American woman to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993. Glück is also the author of 12 poetry collections and was previously awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and served as the United States Poet Laureate, 2003-2004. 

The New York Public Library is proud to have many of her books available in our collections. Discover the work of this great contemporary American poet. 

Poetry Collections

The Wild Iris (1992)

Poems examine the relationship between humans and nature and consider mortality, consciousness, identity, and love 

 

 

 

 

 

Meadowlands (1996)

Articulates the familial relationships between man, woman, and child, exploring Circe and Penelope and emotional psychodramas in poetry that is both chastened and spiritual

 

 

 

 

 

Averno (2006)

Takes its inspiration from a small crater lake in southern Italy and is an extended lamentation that evaluates Averno's existence in a winter landscape and role as a doorway between worlds.

 

 

 

 

A Village Life (2009)

An exploration of a timeless Mediterranean village and the contrast between its natural and architectural elements.

 

 

 

 

 

Poems, 1962-2012 (2012)

Explores the author's transfigured landscapes and offers insight into her unique form created to reflect the human drive to release the past in order to realize the yet-unimagined.

 

 

 

 

 

Faithful and Virtuous Night (2014)

Faithful and Virtuous Night tells a single story but the parts are mutable, the great sweep of its narrative mysterious and fateful, heartbreaking and charged with wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

Essays

Proofs & Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994)

Glück brings to her prose the same precision of language, the same incisiveness and insight that distinguish her poetry. The force of her thought is evident everywhere in these essays, from her explorations of other poets' work to her skeptical contemplation of current literary critical notions such as "sincerety" and "courage." Here also are Glück revealing reflections on her own education and life as a poet, and a tribute to her teacher and mentor, Stanley Kunitz. 

 

 

American Originality: Essays on Poetry (2017)

Discusses what it means to be an American poet while analyzing poets that interest her and introducing the first books of such poets as Dana Levin, Spencer Reece, and Richard Siken.

 

 

 

 

 

---

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.