In The Waking, poet Theodore Roethke suggests the value of taking life slowly, trusting one’s intuition, and learning by doing. It reflects on the unknowability of the future as well as the beauty of feeling and intuition. The Waking is an enigmatic villanelle written in 1953, a year after the author got married. In it, the poet puts forward various ideas about life and how to live it, all within the traditional rhyming and iambic pentameter form. Theodore Roethke's poetry is known for its exploration of the self through reflection on family and nature; there is plenty of depth and technical skill. His mental illness also caused him to look into the darkness from time to time, recording his inner life in personal poems. Roethke’s use of alliteration, imagery, and repetition allows the readers to grasp the message of the poem and understand the true meaning of life.
The opening stanza
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This could be about Roethke’s mental challenges or the simple obstacles in life that all humans face. The speaker is speaking from his life experience and the life lessons he endured. Time is ticking, as Roethke makes clear with the line, “What falls away is always. And is near.” What trickles away is gone forever, which could refer to people, objects, memories, and love. This happened to the speaker and this will happen to the reader. Whatever humans have might be there at the moment, but sooner or later, they will soon vanish. The references to falling and shaking could also go back to the tree, such as leaves falling. This lets readers know that the tree is unsteady, and it is now known that the tree represents life. The speaker ends the poem with the same repetition that implies that he spent his life learning and appreciating. He endured a lifelong journey and enjoyed doing so. The poem uses this form of repetition to form a rhythm, which mirrors the flow of life to