Academik

Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan. His father, Otto Roethke, was a German immigrant, who owned a large local greenhouse. Much of Theodore’s childhood was spent in this greenhouse, as reflected by the use of natural imagery in his poetry. The poet’s adolescent years were jarred, however, by the death of his father from cancer in 1923, a loss that would powerfully shape Roethke’s psychic and creative lives. He attended the University of Michigan and Harvard University and became a professor of English. He taught at several universities, among them Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University and Bennington College. In 1935, he was expelled from his position at Lafayette and returned to Michigan. Just prior to his return, he had an affair with established poet and critic Louise Bogan, who later became one of his strongest early supporters.^[1] While teaching at Michigan State College in Lansing, he began to suffer from depression, which he used as a creative impetus for his poetry. Lastly, he taught at the University of Washington, leading to an association with the poets of the American Northwest.

In 1953, Roethke married his former student, Beatrice O’Connell. Roethke did not inform O’Connell of his repeated episodes of depression, yet she remained dedicated to Roethke and his work. She ensured the posthumous publication of his final volume of poetry, The Far Field.

Theodore Roethke suffered a heart attack in a friend’s swimming pool 1963 and died in Bainbridge Island, Washington. The pool was later filled in and is now a moss garden, which can be viewed by the public at the Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre (607,000 m & sup 2;) former private estate. There is no sign to indicate that the moss garden was the site of Roethke’s death.