Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke was born in Michigan in 1908 ("Theodore Roethke"). Memories from his childhood strongly affected the poetry that he wrote later in his life, especially those of his parents' greenhouse and his father's death when he was a teenager. Roethke graduated from the University of Michigan in 1929 and started to teach at Lafayette College in 1931 (Kalaidjian). After a few years he took another job at Michigan State College, but soon afterwards was hospitalized for depression. This was his first bout of the mental illness, which he struggled with throughout his life. After he recovered, Roethke began to teach at Pennsylvania State University and to write poetry; his first book, Open House, was published in 1941 (Ellmann, O'Clair, and Ramazani 841). In 1943 Roethke started working at Bennington College, and five years later he published his second volume of poetry, which was called The Lost Son and Other Poems (Kalaidijian). Roethke then went to teach at the University of Washington, and soon afterwards he married Beatrice O'Connell. The couple moved to Italy, and after Roethke won the Pultizer Prize in 1954, they traveled throughout Europe for two years so that Roethke could speak about his poetry (Ellmann, O'Clair, and Ramazani 842). Over the next several years, Roethke was greatly honored for his poetry and was awarded with prizes such as the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award, among others. Roethke spent the last few years of his life both teaching and touring, until dying of a heart attack in 1963.

Roethke published his poem "Dolor" in 1948. It is thirteen lines long, with no end rhyme or universal meter. However, most of his lines are six or seven feet long. In order to understand this poem, one must first understand what dolor is: a noun that means feeling anguish or grief. Roethke makes it clear in this poem that he disapproves of places where everyone is forced to be the same. He believes that these places are extremely stale: they are full of "misery" (line 3), "desolation" (line 4), and "tedium" (line 11). These places are so miserable that even the supplies are sad to be there, as lines 1 through 3 suggest. Because these places are so monotonous and routine, they do not produce bright, inquisitive people who will change the world. Instead, they produce people who are all the same; everyone who is forced to be in one of these places has "the duplicate grey standard face" (line 13). Roethke points out in line ten that not only are these places unhappy, but they are also dangerous, for the walls are painted with lead, which is "more dangerous than silica." Roethke's mention of physical danger reminds the reader for a second time that such places are also dangerous to bright minds, because they can cause a permanent lack of desire to learn and succeed. Roethke uses language brilliantly in this poem; many of his words are slow-sounding and deep in tone, reinforcing the poem's feel of monotony and dreariness.

Bibliography

Poem:

Roethke, Theodore. "Dolor." The Norton Antholody of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Volume 1. Eds. Ellmann, Richard, Robert O'Clair, and Jahan Ramazani. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2003. 844. Print.

Biography:

Ellmann, Richard, Robert O'Clair, and Jahan Ramazani. The Norton Antholody of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Volume 1. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2003. Print.

Kalaidjian, Walter. "Theodore Roethke's Life and Career." Modern American Poetry. Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University, 1991. Web. Feb 7 2011. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/roethke/bio.htm. "Theodore Roethke." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. Feb 7 2011. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/13.