Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Unwritten Law," by Louise Gluck, the poet navigates the labyrinthine pathways of love, examining its unpredictability, its capacity for illusion, and its devastating powers of disillusionment. Gluck's speaker offers a retrospective view of love, from the flawed patterns of youthful infatuation to the eye-opening, mature encounter with a more complicated reality. The title itself implies an inescapable, yet unarticulated, rule governing human relationships-potentially the tragic fact that we often fall in love without fully understanding the implications.

The speaker begins with an admission: "Interesting how we fall in love: / In my case, absolutely. Absolutely, and, alas, often- / so it was in my youth." The repetition of "absolutely" signifies an intense, unqualified surrender to emotion. It's a surrender that is somewhat reckless, often misguided, indicated by the poignant "alas." This complete giving over to love becomes a pattern, a repetition of mistakes, as noted by the line, "because they repeated themselves, as is commonly true."

As the speaker reflects on past relationships, the youthful infatuations are described as attractions to "rather boyish men," men who are "unformed, sullen, or shyly kicking the dead leaves." The men are like immature canvases, onto which the speaker projects her ideas of love, "in the manner of Balanchine," referencing the famed choreographer. The speaker's "inflexible Platonism" might hint at a tendency to idealize these men, seeing them not for their complexities but for the single "archetype" they fulfill.

But in her relationship with "you," something seems different. This person possesses an "expansiveness, a buoyance and love of the earth," which counterbalances her own emotional landscape. She "blessed" her good fortune in him, believing that finally she has transcended the trap of recurring mistakes and idealizations.

Yet this is where the "wisdom and cruelty" of the "you" manifest. The cruel wisdom bestowed upon the speaker is the "meaninglessness" of the term "good fortune" in love. The implication might be that even what feels like good fortune in love may reveal itself as yet another illusion, another pattern, another mistake. The unwritten law appears to be that love, no matter how promising or different it may seem, has the potential to result in disillusionment.

Gluck captures the complex emotional interplay between hope and despair, idealization and reality, in this sharp and reflective poem. Through a nuanced introspection, she uncovers the unseen laws that govern the realm of love, laws that, despite their unwritten status, wield immeasurable power over human emotions. The realization is painful but enlightening, a sobering acknowledgment that love can be both an elixir and a poison, capable of elevating us to the heights of euphoria and then dropping us into the depths of disillusionment.

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