Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Louise Gluck's "Youth," the reader is invited into a contemplative space that juxtaposes the illusion of immutability in youth against the inevitable fluidity of life. The poem captures a specific moment, or perhaps a series of similar moments, in a household where the speaker and her sister are engrossed in English novels, seemingly oblivious to the inexorable currents of change.

The scene is both tranquil and weighted with significance. The two sisters sit at opposite ends of the sofa, absorbed in their books. There is a television on and schoolbooks open, with pages marked. Allusions to "Euclid, Pythagorus" serve to ground the narrative in foundational elements of thought and philosophy. And yet, these classics are set aside in favor of novels, suggesting that, at this point in their lives, the emotional and psychological landscapes of fiction hold greater appeal.

The poem's mood is set by the "Sad sounds of our growing up- / twilight of cellos." The twilight of cellos not only encapsulates the melancholic tone of the poem but also evokes the sense of an ending, a passage from one state to another. There is no trace "of a flute, a piccolo," which might have signaled levity or hope. The characters in this tableau seem confined by a perception of their circumstances as "evolving or malleable." This is a house filled with books and learning, but also an unsettling stillness, a rigidity that makes the ongoing process of growing up appear almost like a series of "still lives."

Amid this air of constraint and repetition, there are inklings of life and flavor. From the kitchen come the "sounds of our mother, / smell of rosemary, of lamb roasting." This offers a sensory counterpoint, giving the poem its texture and nuance. It suggests that within this space defined by its seeming inertia, there is still the ongoing process of life-"A world in process / of shifting, of being made or dissolved."

However, the family appears to live as if they are "the simultaneous ritualized enactment / of a great principle, something / felt but not understood." Their interactions are compared to "lines in a play," enacted not out of understanding but out of a "terrifying familial will." The principle behind this will opposes change and discourages questioning, creating an environment where individual growth is stymied or goes unrecognized.

The poem closes on a note of revelation. "Now that the world begins / to shift and eddy around us," the speaker recognizes that what they once perceived as a static reality was never really that. The world "has become the present: unending and without form." It's a world that is ever-changing, in contrast to the sense of permanence they once felt. The poem thus serves as an introspective look at the illusions we harbor in youth, illusions that only dissipate once we recognize the transience of life itself. "Youth" serves as a poignant reminder that the refusal to acknowledge change does not make us immune to its impact; it only blinds us to the opportunities and challenges that come with growing up.

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