Analysis of “Circe’s Power” by Louise Gluck In the poem, “Circe’s Power” by Louise Gluck, the author tells tales from The Odyssey through the format of the poem, figurative language, and through the connections to The Odyssey. This poem refers to when Odysseus was being held on Circe’s island.
The poem “Circe’s Power” is narrated by the goddess Circe. She is addressing Odysseus and the humans that surround him. She truly feels that the way of human life has become toxic and unworthy because of human greed and laziness. She sees as human had become pigs because of this. Circe was upset by the humans way of flattery after they saw her power, instead of respecting her before truly seeing her magic. The human simplicity was something she could easily provide for if humans could stay satisfied with their equal needs met. Although Circe allowed the departure of the people on her island, she knew she had still caused pain and grief on them. She self respected herself in the sense of knowing her power and its effects that she could make decisions with just practicality in mind. This poem
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Metaphors and idioms especially. In the first stanza, second line, Circe says, “Some people are pigs” (Gluck). This is a metaphor, because Circe is comparing people to the animal pigs. She references this pig point multiple times through the poem. There was also personification featured in the poem. In the sixth stanza, the ocean is personified as crying and pounding, “The crying and pounding sea” (Gluck 18). On line 4, Circe claims that she is, “sick of your world” (Gluck). This is an example of an idiom, for Circe can not become physically sick due to the human’s world but she can feel that the world is unwell and it deeply affects her. Another example of an idiom is, “they/ Sweetened right up” (Gluck 10). This is not a reference to the actual taste of sweetness but the personality development to sweet and kind