“The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Glück, Louise. “Circe’s Power.” Meadowlands (Ecco Press, 1996).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

“Circe’s Power,” a poem by Louise Glück originally published in her 1996 collection Meadowlands, is composed of eight stanzas of varying lengths. The collection as a whole weaves the retelling of The Odyssey with the slow decay of a contemporary marriage. “Circe’s Power” is part of a triad of poems in the collection told through Circe’s point of view, thus giving voice to a marginalized female character from Greek mythology. In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe is a sorceress who transforms Odysseus’s men into swine and later advises them on their journey back to Ithaca. Circe is often archetypically depicted as a predatory woman (femme fatale) because of her magical abilities and sexual freedom.

“Circe’s Power” is an example of feminist revisionist mythology because Glück portrays the character Circe as powerful and multifaceted. In the poem’s first lines, Circe explains that her powers uncover the true nature of things. Later, she describes helping Odysseus and his men prepare for a difficult journey home. The final lines reveal that it was Circe’s benevolence (not weakness) that allowed Odysseus to leave.