A Celebration of

Theodore Roethke

Pulitzer-Prize Poet & U-M Alumnus in the Centenary of His Birth

October 17th Rackham Amphitheatre

Theodore Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on May 25, 1908, and that place, its people and environment, remained central in his work for the rest of his life. He attended the University of Michigan in the late 1920s and early 1930s, where he earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English. After establishing a very successful publishing record, Roethke began teaching at the University of Washington, where he helped to create the writing program. In 1954, his collection The Waking, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the first one awarded to a Michigan poet. In 1961, shortly before his death, he returned to the University of Michigan to receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters. In addition, he delivered the Hopwood Lecture at the university in 1960.

Roethke's widely-anthologized and widely-taught poems have assumed a central place in twentieth-century American poetry because of their formal precision and dexterity, and because of their compelling marriage of sound and sense. His volume The Lost Son is often cited as a significant influence on Confessional Poetry, and The Far Field is a central text in the neo-romantic tradition of mystical nature poetry.

This conference is in celebration of the life and work of Roethke in the centenary of his birth.

Sponsored by the Department of English, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, LSA Development Office, and Office of the Vice-President for Research

Roethke photo credit | Site design by Anthony Cece // Department of English