Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke ( /ˈrɛtki/ RET-kee; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm, rhyming, and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking, and he won the annual National Book Award for Poetry twice, in 1959 for Words for the Wind and posthumously in 1965 for The Far Field.

Read more about Theodore Roethke:  Biography, Critical Responses, Bibliography, Filmography

Famous quotes by theodore roethke:

    All lovers live by longing, and endure:
    Summon a vision and declare it pure.
    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)

    In the first of the moon,
    All’s a scattering,
    A shining.
    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)

    I’m cold. I’m cold all over. Rub me in father and mother.
    Fear was my father, Father Fear.
    His look drained the stones.
    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)

    I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,
    Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper-weight,
    All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,
    Desolation in immaculate public places,
    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)

    I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
    And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
    And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for
    her.
    Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)