The Waking

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The Waking is a poem written by Theodore Roethke in 1953 in the form of a villanelle. It is a self-reflexive poem that describes waking up from sleep.[citation needed] It comments on the unknowable[1] with a contemplative tone. It also has been interpreted as comparing life to waking and death to sleeping.[2]

[edit] Use in popular culture

  • The poem appears as an object in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
  • An excerpt of the poem also appears at the beginning of Dean Koontz's novel Odd Hours.
  • Kurt Elling sings the poem on his 2007 album Nightmoves.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://mchip00.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/roethke42-des-.html
  2. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_10_120/ai_102140701

[edit] External links


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