Lot's Wife

“Lot’s Wife” is a short lyric poem by American poet Anthony Hecht, published in his 2001 collection The Darkness and the Light. Despite the poem’s title, the speaker never mentions Lot or his wife in the 16-line poem. This intentional omission permits readers to interpret the title’s meaning based on symbolism and literary devices, such as intertextuality. The poem addresses crime, punishment, appearance versus reality, memory, morality, and childhood experiences.

Hecht’s poetry routinely defines Formalism, which is a movement characterized in literature by the use of traditional verse forms and strict craft. Critics praise Hecht for his ability to use complicated verse forms with ease. Others, however, believe Hecht’s poetry suffers because its Formalist label suggests esoteric, outdated verse. “Lot's Wife” somewhat departs from strict Formalism in that it doesn't abide by a verse form. Like Hecht’s other poems, however, “Lot’s Wife” appears simple enough on its surface but contains multiple layers of meaning and interpretation.

Poet Biography

Hecht was born on January 16, 1923 in New York City. He attended Bard College but halted his studies to serve during WWII. Hecht and his fellow infantrymen helped liberate Flossenburg concentration camp. Hecht himself gathered evidence of atrocities from the French prisoners there, and this firsthand experience played a major role in Hecht’s subsequent mental health crisis. These wartime experiences also feature in Hecht’s poetry. After the war, Hecht continued his studies in 1947 at Kenyon College. He began publishing his work in The Kenyon Review, under the tutelage of its editor John Crowe Ransom.

Critics often describe Hecht’s poetry as definitively Formalist, which means he favors traditional rhyme schemes and strict meter. Hecht uses complicated poetry forms such as canzones and sestinas with ease, and his early work is no different. He published his first collection, A Summoning of Stones, in 1954, and he followed this with numerous other poetry collections as well as award-winning literary criticism. Critics initially faulted Hecht’s work for its high-mindedness, suggesting it was derivative and out of touch. Hecht continued with his highly polished poetics and is now known as a craftsman who infuses tragedy, morality, and both archaic and current references into his verse while adhering to form. The Hard Hours (1967), a later work, won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize, and his literary criticism about W. H. Auden titled The Hidden Law: The Poetry of W.H. Auden (1993) won the Tanning Prize in 1997. Hecht also served as the 1982-1984 poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, which is now known as the poet laureateship.

Hecht died October 20, 2004 in Washington, DC.

Poem Text

Hecht, Anthony. “Lot’s Wife.” 2001. Blue Ridge Journal.

Summary

The speaker defines childhood events as “simple […] pleasures” (Line 1) and follows this definition with a colorful, creative list of childhood experiences. These images include an “iridescent” (Line 3) spiderweb and an egg sac stirring in a breeze. There’s also “[t]he sound of rain” (Line 7), and its image, which the speaker likens to “graphite” (Line 7) and “a steel engraving” (Line 8). A fly “[rubs] its hands” (Line 11) in “self-congratulations” (Line 10), and sugar dissolves on the tongue like “delicious sand” (Line 13). Additional pleasures include “the smell of wax” (Line 12) and a walnut’s “bicameral brain” (Line 11). The speaker further defines these “exquisite satisfactions” (Line 2) as “postage-stamp details” (Line 15), directly referencing the writer Proust’s own love of small but delicious observations. With the last line, “[w]ho can resist the charms of retrospection?” (Line 16), the speaker closes the short poem with a rhetorical question.