Louise Glück, Nobel Prize-Winning Poet and Former Poet Laureate, Passes Away at 80
Louise Glück, the acclaimed poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020 and served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2003 to 2004, has died at the age of 80. Her publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, confirmed her passing on Friday.
Glück’s poetry resonated with readers by capturing the human desire for knowledge and connection in an uncertain world. In a statement, her longtime editor Jonathan Galassi said, “Louise Glück’s poetry gives voice to our untrusting but un-stillable need for knowledge and connection in an often unreliable world. Her work is immortal.”
Known for drawing inspiration from Greek mythology, her personal experiences, and the ordinary aspects of life, Glück’s unique perspective is evident in her poem “The Wild Iris,” where she takes on the voice of a flower contemplating mortality: “At the end of my suffering / there was a door. / Hear me out: that which you call death / I remember.”
“Louise’s voice was wholly its own, always deft and strange. She built up the terrain of lyric poetry — making it new while singing its deep past,” commented poet Tess Taylor. “The poems struggled with beauty. There was a huge daring in them.”
Throughout her illustrious career spanning five decades, Glück’s concise and insightful verse garnered numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Humanities Medal, and the National Book Award. Her work appeared in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly, and she held the esteemed position of the Frederick Iseman Professor in the Practice of Poetry at Yale University.
Glück’s impact extended beyond her own writing, as she served as a mentor to many aspiring poets. Fellow poet and teacher Dana Levin, whose career took off after Glück selected her debut collection for the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize in 1999, remarked, “Louise was a transformative mentor for so many poets. She had an uncanny ability to see the idiosyncratic genius inside a young poet and was truly excited to help it develop.”
Born in New York in 1943, Glück faced rejection 28 times before her first book was published, leading to a period of writer’s block. However, she eventually found her way back to writing. Reflecting on her journey, she said, “That it happened at all is a wonder.”
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