The Glass Essay

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1994

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Glass Essay” is written in free verse, contrasting sharply with the poems of Emily Bronte, which have a structured rhyme scheme and meter. Carson varies the use of syllables by line. For example, line 790 contains almost 20 syllables, while line 803 contains six syllables. Tercets (three-line stanzas) dominate the structure of the poem, however, Carson occasionally adds a line and includes a quatrain (a four-line stanza). The relatively orderly stanzas juxtapose the speaker’s emotional disarray and her tendency to jump from topic to topic, from self to Emily, from inner conversation to dialogues with her mother. The relatively predictable structure of the stanzas adds stability while the speaker moves from her mother’s kitchen, to moments in her past, to the life and literature of Emily.

The poem's essay-like tendencies contribute to its form, but occasionally undermine the predictable structure. Carson includes excerpts from Emily Brontë’s work, her biographers, critics, and her sister Charlotte. These quotes and poetry excerpts can make it difficult to discern the beginning and ending of stanzas. After line 868, Carson introduces Emily’s poem about Thou. It is unclear if this poem is a part of the previous stanza, or if Emily’s poem, which itself has three stanzas, should be considered separately. The merging of Emily’s work with the speaker’s work reflects the seamless intermingling of their identities, and the difficulties the speaker herself has in separating herself from Emily.

Narrative Voice

“The Glass Essay” employs a literary device commonly found in novels: narrative voice. As the term implies, the narrative voice is the voice that narrates the story. Carson’s poem has many elements of a narrative poem or a novel. There are characters (the speaker, the mother, Law, Emily Brontë), a setting (the mother’s house and the moor), and a plot (the speaker’s breakup).

The narrative voice is sad and exact. The acute voice allows for piercing images, such as the description of the moon as “a cold bit of silver gristle” (Line 820). Later, the speaker wonders why she feels like she has to be “unstrung and pounded flat” (Line 905). Much like Emily’s voice, the narrative voice is intense.

Sometimes, the narrative voice is unreliable. In Line 225, the speaker claims, “I am not a melodramatic person,” but later, the speaker admits, “I had become entirely fascinated with my spiritual melodrama” (Line 975). The speaker’s vacillating views about herself and her condition make it difficult to trust her entirely.

The speaker’s handling of Emily Brontë adds to the mistrust. The speaker never cites her sources, which are possibly a part of The Collected Works of Emily Brontë, and possibly not. The biographers and critics that the speaker quotes are not attached to names or specific works. Instead, it is up to the reader to verify that the speaker is quoting them correctly. Moreover, the speaker omits information about Emily that conflicts with her portrayal of her. The narrator does not mention widely accepted facts about Emily, such as her idea to open a school with Charlotte, Anne, and herself, or that Emily was the sibling who managed the small inheritance from their aunt. Such details complicate the narrator’s presentation of Emily as “the little raw soul” (Lines 134, 138). If the narrator felt comfortable precluding these facts, the reader might wonder what else she felt free to exclude.

Personification

Personification is a literary device that attaches human characteristics to inanimate objects and things. In “The Glass Essay,” Carson uses personification to amplify the odious atmosphere and turbulent themes, often focusing the technique on nature and the dramatic landscape of the moors. The speaker describes the frozen swampy water as “caught in its night attitudes” (Line 464), and like a person, the water has a perspective. The presence of night suggests that its point of view is, not unlike the speaker’s, mysterious. Next, the speaker points out four “naked alder trunks” (Line 466), linking nudity to the trees as if the alders can, like a human, wear clothes. The personification of the alders connects to the speaker’s distressing images of the Nudes. The speaker then notices the cracks in the ice “catching the white of the light like a jailed face” (Line 470). This moment of personification alludes to the theme of imprisonment and confinement.

Inside the mother’s home, objects continue to come to life. The speaker opens the fridge, and “it exhales cold confusion” (Line 323). The refrigerator breathes. Its breath is cold and confused—attributes that apply to the speaker’s current state. Sometimes, the personification is unclear. Twice, in Lines 161 and 462, the speaker points out a spot in the moor where the “ground goes down into a depression.” The ground may be feeling deep sorrow (a human trait) or it may just be slumping into the ground. Either way, personification of the landscape provides another device for Carson to demonstrate how the speaker’s emotional state is reflected all around her in the interior and exterior landscapes of her life.