Sign Inventory, week 9

for "Mock Orange" by Louise Glück

•   The piece ends with two questions in the final stanza.
• The third stanza is enclosed by dashes and is the only stanza that does not contain a complete sentence.
• There is a sexual “union” in the third stanza and a “fusion” of “question” and “answer” in stanza four.
• No one is named in the text. The only characters are “I,” “you,” and “the man.”
• “Hate” is repeated three times in the beginning of stanza two.
• The first line seems to be insisting on the cause of trouble: “It is not the moon, I tell you.”
• The first stanza repeats “It is” and the last stanza repeats “How can I.”
• “The scent of mock orange” is the only smell in the work and also contains its title.
• The sound “mounts” and divides. This parallels the “paralyzing body” and the “cry that escapes.”
• The piece is largely personal and local, but ends with “world.”