SOURCE: "Birth, Not Death, Is the Hard Loss," in Parnassus: Poetry in Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring-Summer, 1981, pp. 168-86.

In the following review of Descending Figure, Bedient discusses themes and techniques that appear in all of Glück's work. The critic finds that Glück's emphasis on the sensuality of the form of the poem raises it to the level of high art, at the same time as her subjects stand as testament to the poet's inherent humanity.

1.

Louise Glück once ended a poem, "Open my room, trees. Child's come." This nostalgia for flourishing apart from others, this nature-huddling, the little head-pat of "Child's come"—yes, charming; but it composes the only charming moment in her volumes—of which now, as of the Fates, there are three.

Glück's importance lies more and more in her stringency, which is an earnest of her truthfulness and courage. Her poetry...