The Waking By Theodore Roethke

“Roethke's unique imagery—his vegetative metaphors, dream-like memories of childhood, open fields, stones, trees, and wind—all point to a his belief that humanity has cut itself off from the natural world and needs to recover some sort of new relationship.” (Criticism) As a result of his father’s demand for Roethke to work in the greenhouse, Roethke developed an appreciation for nature at a young age. Later in life, Roethke uses his memories of working in the garden to depict a strong imagery of nature, and its marvelous beauty that is astonishing and sense provoking for the reader. As mentioned, the death of his father; Otto Roethke, left a lasting imprint of pain and heartache that followed him throughout most of his life. Roethke expresses

The Waking is a one of Theodore Roethke’s most well known, and simply contrasting ideas on modern Enlightenment, and the sense of discovery. The poem starts off by illustrating the idea of waking up, more specifically waking up slowly. In the next few line, Roethke uses the 4 of the 5 senses; sight, sound, feel, hear, and smell, to create a relatable feeling to the readers. He then speaks about realizing; realizing the ground, how it was made for walking, realizing his identity and who might be true company. Lastly, he addresses the idea of Nature, and a never ending cycle. Dr. Keen Butterworth states that, "The Waking" is an entirely different kind of poem. The theme is particularly modern: now that man can look back on the long evolution of life on earth and the development of human culture, he sees that the belief of the Enlightenment in his ability to control his destiny through the exercise of rational thought and will misses the mark considerably. Man has evolved through a long process of trial and error; his civilization has evolved in much the same way. And yet there seems to be an intuition, or spirit, that pervades the world; it, rather than rational thought, is the force that leads man's progress. In "The Waking" Roethke applies this idea to his own life. He thinks by feeling" and "learns by going." He is not sure where he will end up, but he has faith that intuition will direct him to his proper destination. The tight, repetitious villanelle form reinforces the feeling that a purposeful fate is at work in his life.” (Butterworth) After evaluating this poem, I came to the conclusion that this poem was referencing Enlightenment; the idea of coming to know something, or all of something. In this poem, he is waking up from a reality, slowing making his way to the questioning stage of Enlightenment, and on the