Eros

by Louise Gluck, p 508-9

The first stanza is one long line. I like the way it flows. It starts a story. It sets the mood. It gives information.I like the idea of this line: "my heart had become small; it took very little to fill it." It is like your stomach when you don't eat much; it doesn't take much to fill it. And in the previous line she says she "was utterly sated" which could be about appetite. It could also be about sexual appetite. The first time I read this I thought it was about being alone--maybe after leaving her husband or being left by him. But it seems more about being alone after having an affair. After her lover has left her alone in the hotel room and she is grappling with the aftermath of it. She "acquitted myself" so there is some sense of being on trial or putting herself on trial. The last stanza is one line as well. It is not as long as the first line. It says she wanted to be naked. And she equates taking off her wedding ring to being naked. So there is a lot of ambiguity in this.