Theodore Roethke was an American poet whose work is characterized by its distinctive rhythm and rich natural imagery. He often drew inspiration from his childhood experiences working in his family's floral business, viewing the greenhouse as a powerful symbol for the entirety of life. Roethke's profound lyrical voice and unique approach to exploring the organic world established him as a significant literary figure. His extensive body of work, beginning in the early 1940s, earned him considerable acclaim and recognition.
This paperback edition contains the complete text of Roethke's seven published volumes in addition to sixteen previously uncollected poems. Included are his Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners The Walking, Words for the Wind, and The Far Field. These two hundred poems demonstrate the variety of Roethke's themes and styles, the comic and serious sides of his temperament, and his breakthroughs in the use of language. Together they document the development of an extraordinary creative source of American poetry.
“There are only two passions in art; there are love and hate—with endless modifications.”—Theodore RoethkeAt his death, Theodore Roethke left behind 277 spiral notebooks full of poetry fragments, aphorisms, jokes, memos, journal entries, random phrases, bits of dialogue, commentary, and fugitive miscellany. Within these notebooks, Roethke allowed his mind to rove freely, moment by moment, moving from the practical to the transcendental, from the halting to the sublime.Fellow poet and colleague David Wagoner distilled these notebooks—twelve linear feet of bookshelf—into an energetic, wise, and rollicking collection that shows Roethke to be one of the truly phenomenal creative sources in American poetry.From “A Psychic Janitor”:I’m sick of fumbling, furtive, disorganized minds like bad lawyers trying to make too many points that this is an age of and these, mind you, tin-eared punks who couldn’t tell a poem from an old boot if a gun were put to their heads . . .Cover art by United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.
