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Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ;〔("Theodore Roethke Michigan's Poet" by Linda Robinson Walker at ''Michigan Today'' (Summer 2001) ). Retrieved 2013-03-02.〕 May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He published several volumes of award-winning and critically acclaimed poetry. Roethke is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation. 〔The Poetry Foundation http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/theodore-roethke 〕 Roethke's work is characterized by its introspection, rhythm and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book ''The Waking'', and he won the annual National Book Award for Poetry twice, in 1959 for ''Words for the Wind''〔 ("National Book Awards – 1959" ). National Book Foundation. With acceptance speech by Poetry award panelist Daniel G. Hoffman and essay by Scott Challener from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog. Retrieved 2012-03-02.〕 and posthumously in 1965 for ''The Far Field''.〔 ("National Book Awards – 1965" ). National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-02.〕 In the November 1968 edition of the ''Atlantic Monthly'', former U.S. Poet Laureate and author James Dickey wrote Roethke was: "...''in my opinion the greatest poet this country has yet produced''." 〔The New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1999/nov/18/lives-of-a-poet/〕 Roethke was also a highly regarded poetry teacher. He taught at University of Washington for fifteen years. His students from that period won two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and two others were nominated for the award."''He was probably the best poetry-writing teacher ever'', " said poet Richard Hugo, who studied under Roethke and was twice nominated for a Pulitzer. ==Biography== Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan and grew up on the west side of the Saginaw River. His father, Otto, was a German immigrant, a market-gardener who owned a large local 25 acre greenhouse, along with his brother (Theodore's uncle). Much of Theodore's childhood was spent in this greenhouse, as reflected by the use of natural images in his poetry. In early 1923 when Roethke was 14 years old, his uncle committed suicide and his father died of cancer. Roethke noted that these events impacted him deeply and influenced his work. Roethke attended the University of Michigan, earning B.A. and M.A. degrees. He briefly attended law school before entering Harvard University, where he studied under the poet Robert Hillyer. Abandoning graduate study because of the Great Depression, he taught English at several universities, including Michigan State University, Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University, and Bennington College.〔Kalaidjian, Walter, ("Theodore Roethke's Life and Career" ), ''Modern American Poetry''. Retrieved 14 December 2008.〕 In 1940, he was expelled from his position at Lafayette and he returned to Michigan. Prior to his return, he had an affair with established poet and critic Louise Bogan, one of his strongest early supporters. While teaching at Michigan State University in East Lansing, he began to suffer from manic depression, which fueled his poetic impetus. His last teaching position was at the University of Washington, leading to an association with the poets of the American Northwest. Some of his best known students included James Wright, Carolyn Kizer, Jack Gilbert, Richard Hugo, and David Wagoner.〔(Article on Roethke's teaching career ), ''anchoragepress.com''.〕 The highly introspective nature of Roethke's work greatly influenced the poet Sylvia Plath. So influential was Roethke’s poetry on Plath’s mature poetry that when she submitted “Poem for a Birthday” to ''Poetry'' magazine, it was turned down because it displayed “''too imposing a debt to Roethke."〔Diane Middleton, ''Her Husband: Hughes and Plath – A Marriage, (N.Y. : Viking, 2003), pp. 109-110.〕 In 1953, Roethke married Beatrice O'Connell, a former student. Like many other American poets of his generation, Roethke was a heavy drinker and susceptible, as mentioned, to bouts of mental illness. He did not inform O'Connell of his repeated episodes of depression, yet she remained dedicated to him and his work. She ensured the posthumous publication of his final volume of poetry, ''The Far Field'', as well as a book of his collected children's verse, ''Dirty Dinky and Other Creatures,'' in 1973. From 1955 to 1956 he spent one year in Italy on a scholarship of the U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission. In 1961, "The Return" was featured on George Abbe's album ''Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry'' on Folkways Records. The following year, Roethke released his own album on the label entitled, ''Words for the Wind: Poems of Theodore Roethke''.〔(Roethke Discography ) at Smithsonian Folkways〕 He suffered a heart attack in his friend S. Rasnics' swimming pool in 1963 and died on Bainbridge Island, Washington, aged 55. The pool was later filled in and is now a zen rock garden, which can be viewed by the public at the Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre (60 hectare) former private estate. There is no sign to indicate that the rock garden was the site of Roethke's death. There is a sign that commemorates his boyhood home and burial in Saginaw, Michigan. The historical marker notes in part:
The Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation maintains his birthplace at 1805 Gratiot in Saginaw as a museum. In 1995, the Seattle alley between Seventh and Eighth Avenues N.E. running from N.E. 45th Street to N.E. 47th Street was named Roethke Mews in his honor. It adjoins the Blue Moon Tavern, one of Roethke's haunts.〔(Council Names Alley After Roethke ), ''community.seattletimes.nwsource.com''.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Theodore Roethke」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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