LITR 5535 American Romanticism UHCL 2006 student poetry presentation

LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Poetry Presentation 2006

Monday 23 October:

poetry: Theodore Roethke, "I Knew a Woman," N 2641

poetry reader / discussion leader: Aaron Morris

Theodore Roethke's "I Knew a Woman"

Here is some biographical information, since McCall’s Author is merely gasping and not entirely dead. Roethke, the author of this poem, is certainly dead. Aaron, the author of this pitch, is still alive and kicking.

BIRTH:

Saginaw, Michigan, 25 May 1908,
to Otto and Helen Huebner Roethke.

EDUCATION:

A.B., University of Michigan, 1929; Magna Cum Laude

Dropped out of law school
M.A., University of Michigan, 1936;
Harvard Graduate School, 1930-1931.

MARRIAGE:

3 January 1953 to Beatrice O'Connell.

AWARDS:

Guggenheim Fellowship, 1945, 1950;
Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize (Poetry magazine), 1951;
Ford Foundation grants, 1952, 1959;
Pulitzer Prize for The Waking, 1954;
Fulbright grant, 1955;
Bollingen Prize, 1959;
National Book Award for Words for the Wind, 1959;
Shelley Memorial Award, 1962;
Litt. D., University of Michigan, 1962;
National Book Award for The Far Field, 1965.

DEATH:

Bainbridge Island, Washington
1 August, 1963.

Works:

Poetry

Open House, Knopf, 1941.

The Lost Son and Other Poems, Doubleday, 1948.

Praise to the End!, Doubleday, 1951.

The Waking: Poems 1933-1953, Doubleday, 1953.

Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse of Theodore Roethke, Secker & Warburg, 1957, Doubleday, 1958.

I Am! Says the Lamb, Doubleday, 1961.

Sequence, Sometimes Metaphysical, Poems, Stone Wall Press, 1963.

The Far Field, Doubleday, 1964.

The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, Doubleday, 1966.

Dirty Dinkey and Other Creatures: Poems for Children, edited by B.Roethke and Stephen Lushington, Doubleday, 1973.

Prose

On the Poet and His Craft: Selected Prose, edited by Ralph J. Mills, Jr., University of Washington Press, 1965.

Selected Letters of Theodore Roethke, edited by Mills, University of Washington Press, 1968.

Straw for the Fire (selections from notebooks), edited by David Wagoner, Doubleday, 1972.

Additional biographical information is included in the further reading section if you wish to learn more on your own time.

(p. 2641)

I Knew a Woman

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;
She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:
I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
Coming behind her for her pretty sake
(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)

Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:
Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;
Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:
I'm martyr to a motion not my own;
What's freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:
(I measure time by how a body sways.)

Discussion Questions:

Let’s divide the discussion into three distinct sections: 1.) Poetry as a verbal art, 2.) Intellectual thoughts on the poem, and 3.) Reading as enjoyment (physical and emotional response). We will then see if our answers are consistent with other works in American Romanticism.

1) Verbal Art Form: Describe the language that Roethke uses in this poem. Why does he choose to use these particular words and literary devices?

2) Intellectual Analysis: In this class we have discussed several recurring themes, such as the sublime, gothic, boundaries, and transcendence. Which of these themes do you see in this poem?

3) Emotional and Physical Response: This is a poem about the love of a woman as well as the appreciation of her beauty and sexuality. Discuss the response engendered by the multi-layered sexual imagery and bawdy references.

4) Connection with American Romanticism: Do other Romantic writers use similar language? Is the approach to describing sex and love more enjoyable than other Romantic writers?