T. Roethke 1908-1963

首页 Home	健康 Health	大千世界 The World	校友之窗 Alumni	文学与翻译 lit. & Trans.	老师领导 Teachers	65届毕业生 Graduates	忆南开 Memoire	温故篇 Poetry	旅游摄影 Photos	关于本网 About Us

	南开大学外文系英专1965届及各届校友纪念网站

American Poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)

roethke

Theodore Huebner Roethke (1908 – 1963) was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking. Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan. His father, Otto Roethke, was a German immigrant, who owned a large local greenhouse along with his brother (Theodore's uncle). Much of his childhood was spent in this greenhouse, as reflected by the use of natural images in his poetry.

He attended the University of Michigan and then here he briefly attended law school before entering Harvard University, where he studied under the poet Robert Hillyer. Abandoning graduate study for economic reasons, he taught English at several universities, including Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University and Bennington College.The Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation maintains his birthplace at 1805 Gratiot in Saginaw, MI as a museum. hours are normally weekend afternoons, and by appointment. The Foundation also sponsors readings and guests who knew or worked with Roethke from time to time. The Friends website is: http://www.roethkehomemuseum.org/picnics08.php

Child on Top of a Greenhouse
by Theodore Roethke

The wind billowing out the seat of my britches,
My feet crackling splinters of glass and dried putty,
The half-grown chrysanthemums staring up like accusers,
Up through the streaked glass, flashing with sunlight,
A few white clouds all rushing eastward,
A line of elms plunging and tossing like horses,
And everyone, everyone pointing up and shouting!

My Papa's Waltz
by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt

The Waking
by Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close behind me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lonely worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air;
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.


\| Contact 联系 \| Last Revised 03/16/2012 \| ©2008-2011 NKENGLISH65, NONPROFIT WEBSITE \| POWERED BY BLUEHOST.COM