Who is Theodore Roethke

Theodore Huebner Roethke ( RET-kee; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book The Waking, and the annual National Book Award for Poetry on two occasions: in 1959 for Words for the Wind, and posthumously in 1965 for The Far Field. His work was characterized by its introspection, rhythm and natural imagery.

Roethke was praised by former U.S. Poet...
Read Full Biography of Theodore Roethke


Theodore Roethke Poems

  • I Knew A Woman
    I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
    When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
    Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
    The shapes a bright container can contain! ...
  • The Minimal
    I study the lives on a leaf: the little
    Sleepers, numb nudgers in cold dimensions,
    Beetles in caves, newts, stone-deaf fishes,
    Lice tethered to long limp subterranean weeds, ...
  • Open House
    My secrets cry aloud.
    I have no need for tongue.
    My heart keeps open house,
    My doors are widely swung. ...
  • The Voice
    One feather is a bird,
    I claim; one tree, a wood;
    In her low voice I heard
    More than a mortal should; ...
  • The Reckoning
    All profits disappear: the gain
    Of ease, the hoarded, secret sum;
    And now grim digits of old pain
    Return to litter up our home. ...
Read All Poems


Top 10 most used topics by Theodore Roethke

Long 12 Wind 11 Time 11 Small 11 Light 11 Slow 11 Tree 10 Water 9 Night 8 Love 8


Theodore Roethke Quotes

Read All Quotes


Comments about Theodore Roethke

Tinopinho61: deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. theodore roethke
_a83: to this dark place i’ve come, and come again. — theodore roethke
Ariisooh: [명언]a mind too active is no mind at all. (theodore roethke)
Skydog811: to know that light falls and fills, often without our knowing, as an opaque vase fills to the brim from a quick pouring, fills and trembles at the edge yet does not flow over, still holding and feeding the stem of the contained flower. the shape of the fire theodore roethke
Negaweekes: “over every mountain, there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” –theodore roethke
Read All Comments


Write your comment about Theodore Roethke


Poem of the day

Stephen Crane Poem
Love Walked Alone.
 by Stephen Crane

Love walked alone.
The rocks cut her tender feet,
And the brambles tore her fair limbs.
There came a companion to her,
But, alas, he was no help,
For his name was heart's pain. .


...

Read complete poem

Popular Poets