Summary
In "The Wild Iris," a personified iris states that there is a door at the end of its suffering. The reader is asked to listen to the iris as it describes the experience of death, which it remembers. The noises sounding above the flower (including the movement of pine branches) cease, and weak sunlight winks across a dry surface. This is death approaching.
The Iris recounts how terrible it is to survive "as consciousness / buried in the dark earth" (Lines 9-10). Finally, death occurs, and the Iris describes the inherent human fear of being a soul and being unable to speak. Death is an abrupt ending, but then "the stiff earth / [bends] a little," and the Iris perceives the sound of birds moving quickly among the woody plants (Lines 13-14).
In an address to the reader, the Iris recounts its passage from the other world; in other words, its rebirth. This flower has returned from oblivion to find a voice, and implies that every being can do so. The center of the Iris's life originates as a great fountain of color: "deep blue / shadows on azure seawater" (Lines 22-23).
Analysis
"The Wild Iris" is one of Glück's best-known poems, and gives this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection its name. The first stanza is comprised of two lines that frame the entire collection: "At the end of my suffering / there was a door." Both this poem and those that follow are concerned with creating something from suffering; a transformation occurs as the Iris recounts experiencing the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Glück has stated that this is the reason she writes poetry in the first place: to discover meaning and make something out of painful circumstances.
The second stanza of the poem is also composed of just two lines, showcasing Glück's penchant for writing in free verse. The speaker asks for the reader's attention, saying "Hear me out." This casual way of speaking is relatable in its friendly simplicity. The Iris claims to remember what the addressee calls "death." These lines imply that the real experience of death is different from what humans "call death." The use of enjambment after the word "death" suggests that it is not in fact the end; that something will come after.
The poem shifts to auditory imagery that gives a sense of the Iris's surroundings. This part reads, "Overhead, noises, branches of pine shifting" (Line 5). The use of commas creates pauses that mimic random sounds rising and falling. The Iris distinguishes the specific sound of pine branches shifting, which creates movement in the poem. This is the longest line in "The Wild Iris," which builds a tension that gets abruptly extinguished in the following line: "Then nothing." Despite the death that presumably takes place here, the setting of the poem remains on earth: "the weak sun / flickered over the dry surface" (Lines 6-7).
Later in the collection, the poems dealing with light and darkness are told from the point of view of a divine force. That here the sunlight is "weak" is indicative of a shaken faith. Things are bleak for the speaker, who states that "It is terrible to survive / as consciousness / buried in the dark earth" (Lines 8-10). This is not an underworld or afterlife because the speaker is still conscious. These lines are suggestive of the horrendous occurrence of being buried alive in a kind of limbo, in-between state. Whether the image of being buried alive is meant literally or metaphorically, it evokes a sense of heavy isolation.
Change is a constant in this poem, and as quickly as it began the experience described above ends. The Iris addresses the reader again, stating that the inherent human fear of "being / a soul and unable / to speak, ending abruptly" is over (Lines 11-13). This fear of "being / a soul and unable / to speak" is central to someone such as a writer (who is concerned with language), but it is also universal because communication and expression are necessary for survival.
Rebirth appears not only in the same stanza as death, but in the same line; they are separated only by a comma. This grammar displays Glück's poetic mastery because of its rhythmic and symbolic meaning. Death is represented by the phrase "ending abruptly," and rebirth immediately follows with the lines "the stiff earth / bending a little" as the iris grows and breaks through to the surface (Lines 13-14). The word "ending" rhymes with "bending," which portrays death as a multilayered experience that leads back to life. This life is demonstrated in the lines "And what I took to be / birds darting in low shrubs" (Lines 14-15). Again, the Iris's surroundings are established.
Death and rebirth are naturalized as a "passage from the other world" that humans do not remember (Line 17). The Wild Iris has journeyed through this cycle, and it becomes a teacher. The central message of the poem appears in the second-to-last stanza: "whatever / returns from oblivion returns / to find a voice" (Lines 18-20). This establishment of voice is an act of self-creation: the Iris finds its voice in the poem, just as Glück makes meaning in her life through writing poetry.
The poem ends with a beautiful image that encompasses the lyric "I" of the Iris: "from the center of my life came / a great fountain, deep blue / shadows on azure seawater" (Lines 21-23). This reference to water demonstrates a fluid nature capable of undergoing great change. Deep blue is often a color associated with depression, but here, the color is a symbol of beauty and abundance. The ocean is often portrayed as an untamable force, which is an appropriate metaphor for this speaker. It is a "Wild" Iris, after all.
