Theodore Roethke's "Root Cellar"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s poem is by Theodore Huebner Roethke (/ˈrɛtki/ RET-kee;[1] May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963), an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book The Waking, and the annual National Book Award for Poetry on two occasions: in 1959 for Words for the Wind,[2] and posthumously in 1965 for The Far Field.[3][4] His work was characterized by its introspection, rhythm and natural imagery.

Roethke was praised by former U.S. Poet Laureate and author James Dickey as "in my opinion the greatest poet this country has yet produced."[5] He was also a respected poetry teacher, and taught at the University of Washington for fifteen years. His students from that period won two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and two others were nominated for the award. "He was probably the best poetry-writing teacher ever," said poet Richard Hugo, who studied under Roethke.

— bio via Wikipedia

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
0:04.1	I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, October 10th, 2020.
0:09.7	Today's poem is by Theodore Retke, and it's called Root Cellar.
0:15.0	I'll read it once, offer a few comments, and read it one more time.
0:19.9	Root Cellar.
0:24.9	Nothing would sleep in that cellar.
0:26.4	Dank as a ditch.
0:30.6	Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark.
0:32.9	Shoots dangled and drooped.
0:36.2	Lawling obscenely from mildewed crates.
0:41.4	Hung down long yellow evilcks, like tropical snakes.
0:56.7	And what a congress of stinks! Roots ripe as old bait, pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich, leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.
0:59.3	Nothing would give up life.
1:16.6	Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath. I was a Vita Retke. I was born in 2008, died in 1963, was an American poet,
1:22.6	who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1954,
1:28.3	and was a longtime poetry teacher
1:32.3	whose own students went on to win Pulitzer Prizes.
1:36.3	I think among his students there are two winners
1:38.3	and at least two more nominees.
1:41.3	Former US Poet Laureate James Dickie said that Redkey was, in his opinion, the greatest poet this country has yet produced.
1:52.5	You might know him best for his poem, My Popas Waltzz and the combination of sincere sentiment and melancholy mingle beautifully in that poem
2:13.1	characterizes a lot of Redke's work well.
	...

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