Literary Analysis of Theodore Roethke's Poems with Special Reference to My Papas Waltz - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages In “Orchids” the poet tries to depict the motions of plant life and in “The Light Comes Brighter”, the poet describes the end of winter and the arrival of spring to a particular landscape as a keen observer. As Mills, Ralph J. & Mills Jr observe these “observation and description are quite accurate and undoubtedly derive from the poet’s childhood experience of the Michigan countryside” (10). In “Orchids”, the poet describes the orchids as “soft and deceptive”, “adder-mouthed” and states that they are “delicate as a young bird’s tongue”. There is no doubt that these descriptions have a lot to do with his close affinity with plants and flowers in the greenhouse.
A close reading of Roethke’s second collection, The Lost Son, and Other Poems, one can find various episodes taken from his “evolutionary past—worms, slugs, snails, slime, and spiders—to represent unarticulated childhood fears and impulses submerged in his subconscious” ("Roethke, Theodore - Introduction."). There are many who believe “Roethke's experiences in his parents greenhouse are central to the poem sequence "The Greenhouse Poems" as well as "The Lost Son," in which Roethke tries to come to terms with his ambivalent feelings for his father, who died when Roethke was only fourteen” ("Roethke, Theodore - Introduction."). Due to the complexity of the tone and the choice of words of the narrator, many readers tend to understand the poem as an account of child abuse by the father. In this respect, it is worthwhile to discuss the experience of one of the professors when he was dealing with the poem in a creative writing classroom. The professor always understood the poem as an account of the nostalgic memories of a son of his dead father. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More