Theodore Roethke [by David Lehman]

No anthology is as nearly complete as the editor wishes. In the case of The Best American Erotic Poems (2008), permission for the use of several poems was denied. Theodore Roethke's 1958 poem "The Sensualists," for example, had an honored place in the book. And his reputation could use a boost. But it was not to be. I would love to post that poem here, but that doesn't seem right. So I'll just refer you, dear reader, to Roethke's Collected and I'll write you a brief head note. Here goes:

Theodore Roethke (1908 –– 1963). Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Roethke spent many boyhood hours in the greenhouses that his father and uncle operated and owned. The poet was a big man –– six feet two and over two hundred pounds –– and for a time he coached tennis at the colleges where he taught. At the University of Washington, where he held a faculty appointment from 1947 until his death, Roethke exerted a powerful influence on student poets, among them Richard Hugo, Carolyn Kizer, and David Wagoner. "Poetry is an act of mischief," Roethke wrote. He accumulated aphorisms and observations in the manner of Wallace Stevens. In "The Poet's Business," for example, he notes that "A poet is judged, in part, by the influences he resists." I'm not certain I agree that "a `movement' is a dead fashion" -- this seems just clever -- but the idea that "almost all language is dead metaphor" succinctly states the poet's challenge. As one who spent time at Bennington College, as Roethke did, I prize this notebook entry from the 1940s: "Going to Bennington [is] a little like going into the Marines."

-- DL

Comments

[Laura Orem]

Thanks for the shout-out to Roethke, David. He is a wonderful and sadly underread poet (except for "My Papa's Waltz," in every Intro. to Lit. anthology, and maybe "The Waking" when people are teaching villanelles). His poetry is such a contradiction of his large, sometimes manic and excessively macho public persona - so tender and intimate, so concerned with things of the earth and of the heart. Every gardener (and anyone who loves a gardener) should read him.

perhaps roethke is underrated or underread by many people -- but many people do many foolish things. as it is said, "humanity's great poets will never be read by humanity, because only humanity's great poets can read them." "tale of two cities" is considered a children's book, but it was a huge inspiration to fyodor mikhailovich dostoevsky in the composition of "the double" and other works. for myself, hardly a week goes by without my thinking of roethke's line about a rat: "under the water it usually goes." i'm sure others have favorite roethke lines as well.
mitch s.

[Jenny Factor]

I had heard some apocrypha that Roethke had an admirable practice as a teacher: he would ask students not only to memorize a poem, but then to *transcribe* it (without looking), as a test. I've tried this myself (on myself, and in a class). It's amazing how much more closely one notices not only those tiny connector words (which any good memorizer ought) but also the punctuation, the line breaks, the *choices*.

And I guess I love the story best because I love Roethke--beyond, beside, and apart from the story, even if there were not story! (I'm glad you'd had him pegged for the BAEP, David!)