In 1908, Theodore Huebner Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan. There he was raised by his mother and father, who owned a greenhouse with their uncle. As a child, he spent much time in the greenhouse observing the nature, which greatly influenced his future works. Roethke attended Arthur Hill High School and later graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1929. Afterword he took a few graduate classes at Michigan and Harvard, but was unhappy and left (Kalaidjian).
After leaving graduate school Roethke began teaching at Lafayette College and started writing and after ten years he published his first book, Open House. Then going to teach at Michigan State College and Pennsylvania State University he released some works and from there he started to make a name for himself. While teaching it was discovered that he had a mental illness, he had to be hospitalized and stopped teaching. Roethke had reoccurring depression, but instead of bringing him down he used it to his advantage of being able to explore writing in a different mindset (Kalaidjian). After many collections of books and poems his reputation was admired by many. Some of his most successful works are The Walking, The Lost Son, Praise to the End!, and Elegy for Jane. Some sets of poems that were also huge accomplishments were The Greenhouse Poems, Words for the Wind, and The Far Field. Over the years he was awarded many honorable prizes and grants such as the Pulitzer Prize, Levinson Prize, National Institute of Arts and Letters Grant, and Guggenheim Fellowship. Roethke made great advances in literature and composition but made sure to give credit to the influence of many great and notable writers. Including Emily Dickinson, John Donne, and William Blake, and admiring the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, and William Yeats (Kalaidjian). Throughout Theodore Roethke’s life he was very successful. From going to school, teaching,
Cited: "Elegy | Define Elegy at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. . FromExplicator, Susan Pinkus. "Roethke The Waking." MR. Bauld 's English Website. Heldref Publications, Summer 1992. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. . Kalaidjian, Walter. "Theodore Roethke 's Life and Career." Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. . Lenz, Frederick P. "The Evolution of Matter and Spirit in the Poetry of Theodore Roethke." Diss. SUNY Stony Brook, 1978. The Evolution of Matter and Spirit in the Poetry of Theodore Roethke. Aug. 1978. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. . Roethke, Theodore. "Elegy for Jane." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 845. Print. Roethke, Theodore. "In a Dark Time." Ga Moon, Ga Stars, Ga WOW! Web. 12 Nov. 2011. . Roethke, Theodore. "Journey into the Interior." Ga Moon, Ga Stars, Ga WOW! Web. 12 Nov. 2011. . Roethke, Theodore. "My Papa 's Waltz." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 505. Print. Roethke, Theodore. "Selected Poems of Theodore Roethke." Ga Moon, Ga Stars, Ga WOW! Web. 17 Nov. 2011. . Roethke, Theodore. "The Geranium." Ga Moon, Ga Stars, Ga WOW! Web. 13 Nov. 2011. . Roethke, Theodore. "The Waking." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. By Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 570. Print.