Gluck strips adjectives and ornament. Her sentences are short, plain, and deliberately cold. 0 = highly ornate/verbose, 4 = extremely pared-down and precise.
Gluck frequently invokes Greek myth (Achilles, Circe, Odysseus), Biblical stories, and unnamed gods. 0 = no mythological element, 4 = central, sustained myth or divine address.
The Wild Iris and Averno are rooted in gardens and seasonal cycles. 0 = no nature imagery, 4 = garden/landscape as the primary vehicle of meaning.
Gluck's reviewers consistently call her work "bleak" or "dark." She writes about mortality, loss, isolation, and failed love without sentimentality. 0 = joyful/celebratory, 4 = relentlessly elegiac.
Gluck often speaks directly to a god, a lover, or the reader. This creates intimacy and accusatory pressure. 0 = no direct address, 4 = the entire poem is an address to a specific "you."
Gluck almost never uses end rhyme or a fixed metrical pattern. Her rhythm is syntactic and conversational. 0 = strict rhyme/meter, 4 = completely free verse.
Gluck's lines are often short (5-10 words), and she uses enjambment to create pauses that shift meaning. 0 = long prose-like lines, 4 = very short fragmented lines with heavy enjambment.
Gluck writes in a strong "I" voice, even when that "I" is a god, flower, or mythic figure. 0 = third-person narrative, 4 = entirely first-person lyric.
Her style shifted across decades. Early work is starker; The Wild Iris adds floral persona-poems; Averno is her darkest; Faithful and Virtuous Night is more narrative.