Research On The Construction Of Mythical Female Images In Louise Glück’s Poetry

Louise Elisabeth Glück(1948-),winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature and Poet Laureate of the United States,is one of the most important and influential contemporary American poets.As one of the leading figures of the Postconfessional School,her poetry situates mythology in contemporary life and context,subverting and rewriting mythological figures.She adapts characters from mythology with a distinctive feminist perspective,combining classical mythology with her personal emotional experiences.Through a close reading of the text,this paper explores the reconstructed mythological female figures in Glück’s poetry and the strategies used to create the poems.The paper is divided into three main sections: the introduction,the main body,and the conclusion.The introductory section introduces Glück’s life and her poetic works,domestic and international research results on Glück’s works,the research ideas and innovative points.The main body of the thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter focuses on the traditional mythological images of women in ancient Greek mythology and the mythological female archetypes in Glück’s poetry,and analyzes the social status and oppression of women in epic poetry.Then,the second chapter of the thesis focuses on three works,"Meadowlands","Averno" and "Mythic Fragment",and analyzes the reconstructed mythological female figures in Glück ’s poetry,taking Penelope,Persephone and Daphne as examples.This chapter explores how the poet highlights the subjectivity of women’s "discourse" and women’s self-awareness,and exposes the problems of marriage,emotion and violence between men and women in real life.The third chapter analyzes the strategies of Glück’s poetry,including the following three aspects: the poet incorporates personal emotional experiences in her poems,revealing her views on childhood,family and marriage;she uses polyphonic narrative to expose the marital crisis of Odysseus and Penelope in "The Meadow" from multiple perspectives;she embodies the awakening of women’s consciousness,showing her resistance to male oppression,her rejection of patriarchal society,her reflection on married life,and her thoughts on marriage,denial of patriarchal society,reflection on married life and the emancipation of female personality and the demand for the realization of self-worth.Glück’s poetry is strongly feminist,combining self-feeling,mythology and married life.Her poetry reflects not only the awakening of female consciousness,but also the desire of women to realize themselves.