Louise Glück's “Gretel in Darkness” (first published in her 1975 collection The House on Marshland) explores trauma through the lens of the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel." The Gretel of this poem is tormented by horrific memories of the witch she murdered in order to rescue her brother. Her father and brother refuse to acknowledge her suffering, preferring to believe that life has returned to normal—and thus abandoning Gretel to her own pain. Written in edgy, jolting free verse, "Gretel in Darkness" evokes the claustrophobia and isolation of trauma.

• Read the full text of “Gretel in Darkness”

• “Gretel in Darkness” Summary

• “Gretel in Darkness” Themes

  • 

    The Persistence of Trauma

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24
  • 

    Misogyny and Repression

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Gretel in Darkness”

  • Lines 1-3

    This is the ...
    ... are dead.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

    I hear the ...
    ... . . .

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-12

    Now, far from ...
    ... it is years.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    No one remembers. ...
    ... it never happened.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-18

    But I killed ...
    ... that gleaming kiln—

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-21

    Nights I turn ...
    ... Am I alone?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    Spies ...
    ... fire in earnest.

    

    

    

    

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• “Gretel in Darkness” Symbols

  • 

    The Witch

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “I hear the witch's cry”
    • Line 6: “Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .”
  • 

    Fire

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .”
    • Line 18: “the spires of that gleaming kiln—”
    • Line 24: “that black forest and the fire in earnest.”
  • 

    Locked Doors

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-12: “bars the door, bars harm / from this house,”
  • 

    Night and Darkness

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “I hear the witch's cry / break in the moonlight”
    • Lines 13-15: “Even you, my brother, / summer afternoons you look at me as though / you meant to leave,”
    • Lines 19-20: “Nights I turn to you to hold me / but you are not there.”

• “Gretel in Darkness” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “world we wanted”
    • Line 2: “would”
    • Line 3: “witch's”
    • Line 4: “sheet”
    • Line 5: “sugar,” “God”
    • Line 6: “shrivels,” “gas”
    • Line 7: “far,” “from,” “women's”
    • Line 8: “women,” “father's,” “hut”
    • Line 9: “we,” “hungry”
    • Line 10: “Why,” “forget”
    • Line 11: “father,” “harm”
    • Line 12: “house”
    • Line 14: “look”
    • Line 15: “leave”
    • Line 17: “killed”
    • Line 18: “kiln”
    • Line 19: “Nights”
    • Line 20: “not”
    • Line 21: “Spies”
    • Line 22: “stillness”
    • Line 23: “still”
    • Line 24: “forest,” “fire”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-5: “I hear the witch's cry / break in the moonlight through a sheet / of sugar: ”
    • Line 6: “Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .”
    • Lines 7-9: “Now, far from women's arms / and memory of women, in our father's hut / we sleep, are never hungry.”
    • Line 13: “Even you, my brother,”
    • Lines 17-18: “But I killed for you. I see armed firs, / the spires of that gleaming kiln—”
    • Lines 21-24: “Spies / hiss in the stillness, Hansel, / we are there still and it is real, real, / that black forest and the fire in earnest.”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-17: “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.”
    • Lines 19-23: “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 ”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “moonlight,” “through”
    • Line 7: “far,” “arms”
    • Line 8: “women,” “in,” “father's,” “hut”
    • Line 9: “are,” “hungry”
    • Line 10: “Why,” “I ”
    • Line 11: “father,” “bars,” “bars,” “harm”
    • Line 13: “brother”
    • Line 14: “summer,” “me”
    • Line 15: “leave”
    • Line 17: “killed”
    • Line 18: “gleaming,” “kiln”
    • Line 22: “hiss,” “stillness”
    • Line 23: “still,” “it is”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “dead. I”
    • Line 5: “sugar: God”
    • Line 7: “Now, far ”
    • Line 8: “women, in”
    • Line 9: “sleep, are”
    • Line 11: “door, bars”
    • Line 12: “house, and”
    • Line 13: “remembers. Even you, my”
    • Line 17: “you. I”
    • Line 21: “alone? Spies”
    • Line 22: “stillness, Hansel”
    • Line 23: “real, real”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “wanted.”
    • Line 5: “rewards.”
    • Line 6: “gas . . .”
    • Line 9: “hungry.”
    • Line 10: “forget?”
    • Line 12: “years.”
    • Line 13: “brother,”
    • Line 15: “leave,”
    • Line 16: “happened.”
    • Line 17: “firs,”
    • Line 18: “kiln—”
    • Line 20: “there.”
    • Line 22: “Hansel,”
    • Line 23: “real,”
    • Line 24: “earnest.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “dead / are”
    • Lines 3-4: “cry / break”
    • Lines 4-5: “sheet / of”
    • Lines 7-8: “arms / and”
    • Lines 8-9: “hut / we”
    • Lines 11-12: “harm / from”
    • Lines 14-15: “though / you”
    • Lines 19-20: “me / but”
    • Lines 21-22: “Spies / hiss”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Line 17: “I see armed firs,”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “All who would have seen us dead / are dead.”
    • Lines 7-8: “far from women's arms / and memory of women”
    • Line 11: “bars the door, bars harm”
    • Lines 14-16: “as though / you meant to leave, / as though it never happened”
    • Line 20: “you are not there”
    • Line 23: “we are there,” “real, real,”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “seen,” “us”
    • Line 4: “sheet”
    • Line 5: “sugar”
    • Line 6: “shrivels,” “gas”
    • Line 17: “see,” “firs”
    • Line 18: “spires”
    • Line 21: “Spies”
    • Line 22: “hiss,” “stillness,” “Hansel”
    • Line 23: “still”
    • Line 24: “forest,” “earnest”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “we sleep, are never hungry.”
    • Lines 11-12: “bars the door, bars harm / from this house”
    • Lines 14-16: “as though / you meant to leave, / as though it never happened”
    • Lines 17-18: “I see armed firs, / the spires of that gleaming kiln—”

• “Gretel in Darkness” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Shrivels
  • Armed
  • Firs
  • Spires
  • Kiln
  • Earnest
  • (Location in poem: Line 6: “shrivels”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Gretel in Darkness”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Gretel in Darkness” Speaker

• “Gretel in Darkness” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Gretel in Darkness”

• More “Gretel in Darkness” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Poems Out Loud — Louise Glück herself reads a selection of her poetry.

    • Hansel and Gretel — The fairy tale that inspired this poem.

    • Little Red Riding Hood — For another poem that tackles a classic fairy tale from a woman's perspective, check out our guide on Carol Ann Duffy's "Little Red Cap."

    • In the Poet's Own Words — Hear Glück talk about her work in this 1982 interview.

    • Glück's Life and Work — A short biography and links to more of Glück's poems from the Poetry Foundation.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Louise Glück

    • The Wild Iris

    • Witchgrass

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