The Spiritual Transformative Process in Roethke’s “Cuttings (later)” and “Root Cellar”

Document Type

Humanities

Authors

Pauline Park, Pepperdine UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper discusses the groundbreaking greenhouse poems of Theodore Roethke as a manifestation of the poet's internal psyche and personal childhood memories. It analyzes "Cuttings (later)" and "Root Cellar" as poems within a sequence, all exploring the speaker's desire for spiritual transformation and transcendence through the necessary process of decay, death, and rebirth. The paper reveals the poems as emulating the Roethke's own cycles of spiritual awakening and darkness amidst the cycles of manic depression he experienced throughout his life.

Recommended Citation

Park, Pauline (2017) "The Spiritual Transformative Process in Roethke’s “Cuttings (later)” and “Root Cellar”," Global Tides: Vol. 11, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/globaltides/vol11/iss1/2