"Originally published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1966"--Title page verso. Includes index. "Originally published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1966"--T.p. verso. Includes index.
Contents:
3 (1941) I Supper with Lindsay. Feud -- Death piece -- Prognosis -- To my sister -- Premonition -- Interlude -- Orders for the day -- Prayer -- Signals -- Adamant II Light comes brighter -- Slow season -- Mid-country blow -- In praise of prairie -- Coming of the cold 1 Late peach yields a subtle musk 2 ribs of leaves lie in the dust 3 Small brook dies within its bed -- Heron -- Bat III No bird -- Unextinguished -- Long live the weeds -- Genesis -- Epidermal Macabre -- Against disaster -- Reply to censure -- Auction -- Silence -- On the road to Woodlawn IV Academic -- For an amorous lady -- Poetaster -- Vernal senitminet -- Prayer before study -- My dim-wit cousin -- Verse with allusions V Ballad of the Clairvoyant Widow -- Favorite -- Reminder -- Gentle -- Reckoning -- Lull -- Sale -- Highway: Michigan -- Idyll -- Night journey Lost son and other poems (1948) I Cuttings -- Cuttings (later) -- Root cellar -- Forcing house -- Weed puller -- Orchids -- Moss-gathering -- Big wind -- Old florist -- Transplanting -- Child on top of a greenhouse -- Flower dump -- Carnations -- Frau Bauman, Frau Schmidt, and Frau Schwartze II My Papa's waltz -- Pickle belt -- Dolor -- Double feature -- Return -- Last words -- Judge not III Night crow -- River incident -- Minimal -- Cycle -- Waking IV Lost son 1 Flight 2 Pit 3 Gibber 4 Return 5 It was beginning winter -- Long alley -- field of light -- Shape of the fire From Praise to the end (1951) I Where knock is open wide -- I need, I need -- Bring the day -- Give way, ye Gates -- Sensibility! O La! -- O lull me, lull me II Priase to the end! -- Unfold! Unfold! -- I cry, Love Love! From the Waking (1953) O, thou opening, O -- Visitant -- Light breather -- Elegy for Jane -- Old Lady's winter words -- Four for Sir John Davies 1 Dance -- 2 Partner -- 3 Wraith -- 4 Vigil -- Waking From Words for the wind (1958) I Lighter pieces and poems for children -- Song for the squeeze box -- Reply to a Lady Editor -- Dinky -- Cow -- Serpent -- Sloth -- Lady and the bear II Love poems Dream -- all the Earth, all the air -- Words for the wind -- I knew a woman -- Voice -- She -- Other -- Sententious man -- Pure fury -- Renewal -- Sensualists -- Love's progress -- Surly one -- Plaint -- Swan -- Memory III Voices and Creatures Shimmer of evil -- Elegy -- Beast -- Song -- Exorcism -- Small -- Walk in late Summer -- Snake -- Slug -- Siskins -- IV Dying man Dying man -- 1 His words 2 What now? 3 Wall 4 Exulting 5 They sing, they sing -- V Meditations of an Old Woman -- First meditation -- I'm here -- Her becoming -- Fourth meditation -- What can I tell my bones? From I am! Says the Lamb (1961) Nonsense poems Ktty-cat bird -- Whale -- Yak -- Donkey -- Ceiling -- Chair -- Myrtle -- Myrtle's cousin -- Goo-girl -- Gnu -- Monotony Song -- Philander -- Hippo -- Boy and the bust -- Lamb -- Lizard -- Wagtail -- Far field (1964) I North American sequence -- Longing -- Meditation at Oyster River -- Journey to the Interior -- Long Waters -- Far field -- Rose -- II Love Poems -- Young girl -- Her words -- Apparition -- Her reticence -- Her longing -- Her time -- Song -- Light listened -- Happy three -- His foreboding -- Shy man -- Her wrath -- Wish for a young wife -- III Mixed sequence -- Abyss -- Elegy -- Otto -- Chums -- Lizard -- Meadow mouse -- Heard in a violent ward -- Geranium -- On the Quay -- Storm (Forio d'Ischia) -- Thing -- Pike -- All morning -- Manifestation -- Song -- Tranced -- Moment -- IV Sequence, sometimes metaphysical -- In a dark time -- In evening air -- Sequel -- Motion -- Infirmity -- Decision -- Marrow -- I waited -- Tree, the bird -- Restored -- Right thing -- Once more, the Round -- Previously uncollected poems -- Light poem -- Meditation in hydrotherapy -- Lines upon leaving a Sanitarium -- Song -- Changeling -- Follies of Adam -- Three Epigrams 1 Pipling 2 Mistake 3 Centaur -- Harsh Country -- Rouse for Stevens -- Saginaw Song -- Gob Music -- Reply -- Duet -- Supper with Lindsay.
Summary:
With the publication of Open House in 1941, Theodore Roethke began a career which established him as one of the most respected American poets. His subsequent volumes included The Waking, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1953, Words for the Wind, recipient of a National Book Award and the Bollingen Prize in Poetry of Yale University, and the posthumously published The Far Field, which won a National Book Award in 1965. Available for the first time in paperback, this volume contains the complete text of Roethke's seven published books as well as sixteen previously uncollected poems. These two hundred poems demonstrate the variety of Roethke's themes and styles, the comic and serious sides of his temperament, and his breakthroughs in the use of language. Together they document the development of an extraordinary creative source in American poetry.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.