Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Getting to know Roethke

Of course I've started with wikipedia, because I want the most accurate and scholarly info. First thing that catches my eye is this:
"an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm and natural imagery."

*gasp*

I want to be an American poet who publishes volumes of poetry characterized by rhythm and imagery! lol So I think I'm headed in the right direction by choosing to look more closely into Roethke's work after being exposed to a few of his pieces in workshop this week.

His bio on PBS.org states that his influences were Blake, Yeats, and Auden so I could look more into those poets as well. My professor had a great family tree analogy about poets and I can see it at work here. Just pick a poet, find their influences, and go from there. Then your own work becomes influenced by their work and you become the newest extension on the family tree.

So now I'm reading his Collected Poems which has the full text of all of his books. UVA has it for free on e-text! Yay!

First impressions: His first book "Open House" has some rhyming, sing-songy, dare I say even emo stuff so far lol. The poems the professor handed out in class were all from his second volume, "Lost Son," and did not rhyme like the few I've read so far.

We'll see where this goes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not ashamed to say that your list of perfect poems lead me here. I have read every poem on that list, and even when I can't word for word remember the poem (Pegasus, for example) I remember its title, which always means that it moved me. I guaranty that I have that page dog-earred.

Anyway, wanted to introduce myself, sorta. I'm following you now; it looks like we may have some of the same taste in poetry.

JayTee said...

Wow, Keith, that's crazy! You'll have to share some of your favorites with me. I'm trying to read more and it sounds like you might know some other poets I might like! I'll skim your blog to see who you're over there talking about lol

Emily said...

JayTee - I hope you're enjoying Roethke. You mentioned villanelles on my blog...have you read his "The Waking"? It's one of my favorite villanelles. "Wish For a Young Wife" is another of my favorites by him.

JayTee said...

Eh...I think I tried to take in too much Roethke at once lol. I enjoyed a majority of the poems in his Lost Son collection though. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of his villanelle and the young wife poem!