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The Walking (1953)
Unoriginally, my favorite poem by Theodore Roethke
is, without a doubt, “The Walking.” In 1954 Roethke won the Pultizer
Prize for his book “The Walking: Poems
1933-1953 (1953)” and this is the title piece. I didn’t realize that
this was Roethke’s highest accredited piece of work the first time I read it but I did know it was brilliant piece of
poetry. It has 19 lines making up
the six stanzas with only two repeated lines making up the poems magnificent rhyme-meter.
“I wake to sleep and take my waking slow” and “I learn by going where I have to go” are alternatively
repeated as the last lines in the first five stanzas and both stated in the final sixth stanza. You can find a video of Theodore Roethke reciting his famous
poem on the home page.
The tone of “The Walking” is melancholy and very
much contemplative. Upon my first, second and third readings I expected to be
able to break loose from the incessant rhythm but found myself drawn in deeper with each read.
Even when the repetition of the alternating last lines wasn’t there, the sound pattern takes over and the poems
assonance completes the task. There is a theme of transcendence that we
feel throughout poem as well.
Though the poetic elements impressed me very much I would have
to give equal credit to the actual content of the poem as well. “The Walking”
is filled with oxymorons that beg to be defined. Roethke suggests “I
feel my fate in what I cannot fear” instead of fearing fate itself. This
leads us to believe that it is by accepting our fate that we are able to actually
feel. Then there is the finale that we get in the last stanza, “My shaking
hands keep me steady. I should know. What
falls away is always. And is near. I
wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.” Taking this beyond the given life
to sleep comparison the multiple contradictions suggest an ever deeper meaning as we flow up to the final lines of this poem. Such paradox’s suggest a discussion of life and death, or waking up to life with an acceptance of our fate rather than in a fear of it.
“The Waking” is a beautiful poem about the very essence of our lives that draws us to contemplate on the
nature of our being.
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My Papa’s Waltz
My
Papa’s Waltz is a poem that can be interpreted in two completely different
ways. Some people interpret this poem as a drunken father or grandfather
beating his children or grandchildren. If you’re like me it is a extremely good
poem that reminds me a something that me and all my cousins would do with my
grandfather when we were little. It really depends on what your life experience
is, and in Roethke’s He did not have an abusive father or grandfather so I assume
that when he wrote this he wrote it from my perspective. When
I was young my family lived away from the rest of my mom’s side of the family.
So whenever we would come into town to visit them it would be a big celebration
and all of my moms bothers and sister would come and bring my little cousin
with them. And without fail my grandpa would sit in the kitchen all night,
until about nine when it was time for all the little kids to go to bed, and he
would drink. He would play these old records and right before we went to bed we
would dance with my grandpa. And us being little kids and my grandpa being a
very large man we would stand on his feet and grab onto his legs for dear life.
And my grandma hated when he did this because he was such a big man and
whenever he would take a step the entire kitchen would shake and stuff would
fall all over the place. We would all take a turn dancing with him and then we
all would go to bed and he would normally tuck us into bed.
My
story almost coincides with the poem My Papa’s Waltz almost perfectly. This is
why this is my favorite poem, because I can relate so well to this poem. It reminds
me all the fun times I had a little kid running around my grandparents old
house. It just fills me with a sense of nostalgia that I never really get with
any other poetry.
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