Gretel in Darkness Literary Elements

The poem's speaker is a girl named Gretel, who is based off of the well-known character of the same name from the fairytale "Hansel and Gretel"

Free verse in four sestets

"the spires of that gleaming kiln" uses metaphor to compare a fire to a church or building, while the phrase "bars harm/from this house" uses a metaphor to compare the abstract concept of harm to a person or being who must be physically kept at bay.

"Gretel in Darkness" is packed with both assonance and alliteration, creating repetitive, musical sounds without sacrificing the conversational informality of free verse. The "W" sounds in "this is the world we wanted" are alliterative, as are the "Sh" sounds in "sheet of sugar" and the "F" sounds in "the black forest and the fire in earnest." The "A" sounds in "far from women's arms" and the "I" sounds in "hiss in the stillness" are assonant.

The poem is at its core ironic, subverting the expectation that a fairytale protagonist would be happy following the defeat of her enemies. Even without the expectations created by the tale, the poem subverts the expectation that its speaker will be happy with her own physical safety and victory over others.

Lyric poetry

The poem has a loosely European, preindustrial setting, taking place in the same world as the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales

Nightmarish, frightened

Gretel is the protagonist. The antagonist is not the witch she has defeated, but Gretel's own trauma and guilt.

Gretel's major conflict is her own attempt to recover and feel safe after trauma, as well as her confrontation with her brother, whom she believes to be in denial about the past.

The poem's climax is the moment at which Gretel entirely disconnects with reality, becoming fully immersed in the sensations and emotions of her traumatic past.

The declaration "God rewards" foreshadows the fact that Gretel herself will reap the emotional consequences of her violent actions.

The question "Why do I not forget?" understates the persistence of Gretel's memories—rather than merely not being able to forget, she feels that her past is ongoing and unending.

The poem as a whole alludes to the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel."

The phrase "far from women's arms" uses arms as synecdoche to represent the women themselves.

Trees are personified, and made to seem menacing, with the phrase "armed firs."

"No one remembers" is hyperbolic—Gretel's family has not literally forgotten the past, but she suspects that they are shying away from their memories of it.

The word "hiss" is onomatopoeia, mimicking as well as denoting the sound of whispering.