September Twilight

Louise Glück

I gathered you together,

I can dispense with you—

I’m tired of you, chaos

of the living world—
I can only extend myself
for so long to a living thing.

I summoned you into existence

by opening my mouth, by lifting
my little finger, shimmering

blues of the wild

aster, blossom
of the lily, immense,
gold-veined—

you come and go; eventually

I forget your names.

You come and go, every one of you

flawed in some way,
in some way compromised: you are worth
one life, no more than that.

I gathered you together;

I can erase you
as though you were a draft to be thrown away,
an exercise

because I’ve finished you, vision

of deepest mourning.
Summary of the Poem
In "September Twilight," Louise Glück adopts a voice of creative detachment and quiet finality,
meditating on the limits of human engagement with the living world—particularly the natural
world she once summoned into poetic existence. The speaker expresses both weariness and
authority, portraying nature as a temporary, flawed presence she once conjured into being
through poetic creation. But now, as the season changes, perhaps toward autumn or an emotional
autumn, she is ready to let go. Nature, once meticulously named and described, becomes
forgettable, expendable—a “draft to be thrown away.” The poem explores the power of creation
and erasure, evoking themes of artistic control, transience, detachment, and grief ("deepest
mourning").

Line 1: “I gathered you together,”

 Analysis:
The speaker opens with an assertion of agency and authorship. “Gathered” suggests
deliberate collection—perhaps of natural elements, ideas, memories, or poetic images.
The tone is somewhat reminiscent of a creator or artist addressing their creation. The
pronoun “you” is ambiguous—it could refer to flowers, seasons, people, thoughts, or
even poems themselves. This ambiguity invites multiplicity of interpretation. The past
tense sets the scene as reflective or retrospective.

Line 2: “I can dispense with you—”

 Analysis:
In a shift from creation to destruction or detachment, this line asserts power and
emotional withdrawal. “Dispense with” means to do without, to cast off. The dash creates
a pause, emphasizing the starkness of the declaration. It also adds to the quiet severity of
the speaker’s decision, suggesting a moment of irreversible release or dismissal.

Line 3: “I’m tired of you, chaos”

 Analysis:
The poem turns more emotionally intimate. “I’m tired” evokes exhaustion—emotional,
psychological, perhaps artistic. “Chaos” is personified and directly addressed, indicating
that what is being rejected is not an individual but disorder itself—potentially the chaos
of life, nature, grief, or memory. The tone borders on frustration or disillusionment.
Line 4: “of the living world—”

 Analysis:
This clarifies that the chaos originates in “the living world”—all things alive, dynamic,
changing. The dash at the end implies that the phrase lingers, suspended, possibly
signifying the weight of the world’s living chaos and the poet’s inability to cope with its
intensity or entropy.

Line 5: “I can only extend myself”

 Analysis:
This line introduces the idea of limitation. “Extend myself” suggests making oneself
emotionally or imaginatively available—engaging, giving, or empathizing. The phrase
implies effort and generosity, but also hints at strain. There’s a tone of self-protection or
boundary-setting.

Line 6: “for so long to a living thing.”

 Analysis:
The previous thought is completed: the speaker can only sustain her emotional or creative
connection to living beings temporarily. “A living thing” depersonalizes the object—it’s
not a specific person or plant, but any mortal, flawed entity. This amplifies the sense of
emotional fatigue and the ephemeral nature of such connections.

Line 7: “I summoned you into existence”

 Analysis:
The speaker reasserts her creative authority. “Summoned” is a strong, almost magical
word—it implies power akin to divinity, conjuration, or incantation. This line may be
read as a poetic metaphor for creation: the speaker brings images or ideas to life through
language.

Line 8: “by opening my mouth, by lifting”

 Analysis:
The means of creation are listed here. “Opening my mouth” suggests speech—perhaps
the act of poetic voice. “Lifting” gestures toward physical movement—possibly the hand
in writing, drawing, or pointing. This line emphasizes how minimal yet powerful the acts
of poetic creation are.
Line 9: “my little finger, shimmering”

 Analysis:
The phrase “my little finger” underlines delicacy, effortlessness, or grace—she creates
with minimal gesture. “Shimmering” operates both as an adjective and a gerund—it
describes the finger and also suggests the luminous beauty of the act or the world being
created. There’s visual and sonic softness in this line, suggesting fleeting or ethereal
beauty.

Line 10: “blues of the wild”

 Analysis:
A vivid image begins here. “Blues” refers to color but may also carry emotional
connotations of melancholy. “Wild” implies the untamed, natural world—flowers, likely.
The tone is aesthetic and wistful, possibly invoking the end of summer or beauty in
decline.

Line 11: “aster, blossom”

 Analysis:
The specific flower “aster” is named—a common late-blooming wildflower, associated
with autumn and decay. “Blossom” functions as both noun and verb, deepening the
botanical imagery. There's a contrast between the bloom (life) and the evocation of
impermanence (autumnal decline).

Line 12: “of the lily, immense,”

 Analysis:
Another flower, the lily, is invoked—often symbolizing purity or death. “Immense”
exaggerates its presence, highlighting nature’s grandeur. The speaker recognizes natural
beauty with reverence, even as she prepares to leave it behind. The adjective creates a
pause—awe coupled with impending separation.

Line 13: “gold-veined—”

 Analysis:
Continuing the image of the lily, “gold-veined” suggests intricate beauty—like veins in a
 leaf or petal. There’s wealth and complexity here. The dash marks an interruption or
trailing off, perhaps signaling the end of the visual image and a shift back into abstraction
or judgment.

Line 14: “you come and go; eventually”

 Analysis:
Repetition of “you” again universalizes the speaker’s subject. “Come and go” implies
transience—things in life are fleeting, just passing through. “Eventually” introduces the
inevitability of forgetting or loss, a foreshadowing of detachment or erasure.

Line 15: “I forget your names.”

 Analysis:
The speaker admits to memory's failure, or perhaps a willful forgetting. Naming is a form
of recognition and control; forgetting names suggests loss of intimacy or care. This may
reflect emotional fatigue, poetic closure, or the slow erosion of grief.

Line 16: “You come and go, every one of you”

 Analysis:
This repetition strengthens the theme of impermanence. “Every one of you” is
inclusive—possibly referring to people, plants, poems, memories. It’s a lamentation but
also a resignation. There’s a shift from personal weariness to an observation of universal
ephemerality.

Line 17: “flawed in some way,”

 Analysis:
Here, the speaker introduces judgment. “Flawed” diminishes the value of what once
seemed beautiful. It reflects a deeper skepticism—perhaps toward idealization,
romanticism, or her own creations.

Line 18: “in some way compromised:”

 Analysis:
“Compromised” intensifies the critique—it suggests weakness, failure, or loss of
 integrity. The colon invites expansion or elaboration, but instead, the line breaks—
leaving the compromise unnamed, like an open wound or an accusation never fully
stated.

Line 19: “you are worth”

 Analysis:
The line delivers a verdict. “Worth” introduces value judgment—what the speaker gives,
what the addressee merits. This is calculating and emotionally distant, signaling the
speaker’s final evaluation.

Line 20: “one life, no more than that.”

 Analysis:
Stark and reductive. “One life” suggests limited value or engagement—each object,
person, or poem deserves a singular lifetime’s worth of attention, then no more. “No
more than that” is definitive, perhaps harsh, enforcing finality and emotional cutoff.

Line 21: “I gathered you together;”

 Analysis:
Repetition of the first line creates circularity, enclosing the poem. The gathering is not an
act of care now—it’s more mechanical, like assembling pieces to discard. The semicolon
indicates continuation—this act leads to something else, namely erasure.

Line 22: “I can erase you”

 Analysis:
This is poetic power at its most cold and godlike. The speaker claims the right to unmake
what she made. “Erase” denotes total deletion, not just forgetting. It suggests a deliberate
act of obliteration, potentially symbolic of letting go, grief, or artistic finality.

Line 23: “as though you were a draft to be thrown away,”

 Analysis:
A simile links the addressee to a rough draft—something unworthy of permanence.
“Thrown away” adds a note of casualness, almost disdain. It reduces what was once
 beautiful and carefully assembled to something discardable. This may reflect the poet’s
struggle with attachment and detachment.

Line 24: “an exercise”

 Analysis:
Following from the previous line, this reinforces the dismissive tone. “An exercise”
suggests a practice attempt—not the final, valuable product. It implies the speaker no
longer attributes meaning or weight to what she had once created or named.

Line 25: “because I’ve finished you, vision”

 Analysis:
This is the turning point of emotional tone. The speaker is not simply bored or cruel—she
has completed the process. “Finished” may refer to closure, artistic completion, or the
end of a grief process. “Vision” evokes something imagined, ephemeral, poetic. It could
be a dream, a person, or a period of life.

Line 26: “of deepest mourning.”

 Analysis:
The final line reveals the emotional undercurrent beneath the detachment. This “vision”
is not neutral—it is born of and completed through mourning. “Deepest mourning” casts
all previous disillusionment, forgetting, and erasure in a new light: this poem is an elegy.
It mourns not just the object, but the act of poetic creation, of caring, of feeling.