BIG WIND<\/p>\n
by Theodore Roethke (1908 – 1963)<\/p>\n
Where were the greenhouses going,
\nLunging into the lashing
\nWind driving water
\nSo far down the river
\nAll the faucets stopped?\u2014
\nSo we drained the manure-machine
\nFor the steam plant,
\nPumping the stale mixture
\nInto the rusty boilers,
\nWatching the pressure gauge
\nWaver over to red,
\nAs the seams hissed
\nAnd the live steam
\nDrove to the far
\nEnd of the rose-house,
\nWhere the worst wind was,
\nCreaking the cypress window-frames,
\nCracking so much thin glass
\nWe stayed all night,
\nStuffing the holes with burlap;
\nBut she rode it out,
\nThat old rose-house,
\nShe hove into the teeth of it,
\nThe core and pith of that ugly storm,
\nPloughing with her stiff prow,
\nBucking into the wind-waves
\nThat broke over the whole of her,
\nFlailing her sides with spray,
\nFlinging long strings of wet across the roof-top,
\nFinally veering, wearing themselves out, merely
\nWhistling thinly under the wind-vents;
\nShe sailed until the calm morning,
\nCarrying her full cargo of roses.<\/p>\n
– – – – –<\/p>\n
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)<\/b><\/p>\n
Theodore Huebner Roethke was born on 25 May 1908 in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Otto Roethke, and Helen Huebner, who, along with an uncle owned a local greenhouse. As a child, he spent much time in the greenhouse observing nature. In 1923 his father died of cancer and his uncle committed suicide.<\/p>\n
From 1925 to 1929 Roethke attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating magna cum laude. Despite his family\u2019s wish that he pursue a legal career, he quit law school after one semester. He spent 1929 to 1931, taking graduate courses at the University of Michigan and later attended the Harvard Graduate School, where he met and worked with fellow poet Robert Hillyer.<\/p>\n
In 1935, while teaching at Michigan State University, Roethke suffered a bout of mental illness. He finished his Master of Arts degree at Michigan, and was able to get another teaching position at Pennsylvania State College that fall.<\/p>\n
Open House<\/i>, his first book of poems, was critically acclaimed for its brief lyricism, and the collection\u2019s intimate, personal quality influenced later ‘confessional’ poets, including Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Along with Robert Lowell and W.S. Merwin, Roethke was one of many American poets whose writing was admired by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes.<\/p>\n
The Lost Son<\/i> and Praise to the End!<\/i>, his second and third books, were a significant breakthrough for Roethke, exercising his abilities to write compelling free verse. The Waking: Poems 1933-1953<\/i> collected a number of poems from those earlier volumes and documented the poet\u2019s return to traditional forms.<\/p>\n
In 1953, Roethke married Beatrice O’Connell, a former student. Roethke did not inform O’Connell of his repeated episodes of depression, yet she remained dedicated to Roethke and his work. She ensured the posthumous publication of his final volume of poetry, The Far Field.<\/p>\n
I am renewed by death, thought of my death,
\nThe dry scent of a dying garden in September,
\nThe wind fanning the ash of a low fire.
\nWhat I love is near at hand,
\nAlways, in earth and air.<\/i><\/p>\n
Theodore Roethke died of a heart attack on 1 August 1963 while visiting friends on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Although his work anticipated several poetic movements, and despite his influence on several major American poets, many critics argue that he is not given enough attention by contemporary readers and has been overlooked as a leading force in American poetry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BIG WIND by Theodore Roethke (1908 – 1963) Where were the greenhouses going, Lunging into the lashing Wind driving water So far down the river All the faucets stopped?\u2014 So we drained the manure-machine For the steam plant, Pumping the stale mixture Into the rusty boilers, Watching the pressure gauge Waver over to red, As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57,182,37,56],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biography","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-theodore-roethke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1496,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/1496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.engrailed.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}