"Nothing would sleep in that cellar,"

“Root Cellar” by Theodore Roethke was one of his greenhouse poems. His father owned a large greenhouse and much of his childhood was spent inside it" (http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/can-somebody-tell-me-what-this-peom-about-root-373002).

"Nothing would sleep in that cellar," was a perfect start to this short, but descriptive poem. Theodore's poem, "Root Cellar" along with others from the text include a large amount of emotion and imagination, and allow you to feel as if you are living the story of the person he narrates. As the website mentioned, many of his poems are describing his experiences as a young boy at his grandfathers greenhouse, and "Root Cellar" truly made me feel as if I was walking into a musky old cellar, cowardly opening the door, as I shouted, "hello" into the darkness of shadows reflecting from the walls. Let's face it, children don't like basements! Personally, I still don't like basements.

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Bishop and Roethke Poems

The two poems by Elizabeth Bishop that spoke to me were “The Fish” and “Filling Station.” I interpreted the fish as a survivor and the hooks and lines caught in the fish’s mouth were “like medals with their ribbons” (Bishop 61). The first part of the poem seemed to describe the fish as ugly “battered and venerable and homely” (Bishop 7-8). But as the reader reads further in the poem the fish makes a transformation of not homely but proud and tattered. The reader sees the struggle for survival and how the fish continues to fight and suddenly the fish is a symbol of a worthy vanquished hero. The fish is set free to continue the good fight.

The poem “Filling Station” represented the grey common everyday existence of a family that is nondescript and colorless. The only color is provided by comic books. Everything is monochromatic, and covered with a greasy film of dirt. The last part of the poem indicated that someone cared enough to embroider a doily, water the plants and arrange the cans to spell out Esso. “Someone loves us all.” (Bishop 42). Everyone’s life has meaning and everyone seeks out beauty and order in their life no matter how drab it appears to the outsider.

Roethke” poem titled “Elegy” was like a poem describing my Aunt Annie. She was an independent feisty old woman who fought for the underdog. I loved that you could tell so much about the poem’s character in the fact that she used the misshapen fruit for herself but the pick of the crop was saved to be pickled and then given to someone less fortunate than her. Her place in heaven’s supermarket was assured and her character remained true as she terrorizes the butcher. No saintly hymn singing celestial being is she but a determined righteous fighter even in heaven.

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Elizeabth Bishop and Theodore Roethke

As I read about these two authors, they both had amazing poems that I had to narrow it down,  I chose the poem" Big Wind " , as I read this poem it was really touching as it started off you would of thought it was talking about a greenhouse a place where you grow flowers.  Or maybe it was a Stem boat, or it even could have been a train as well.  But with the wind high it pushes the boat down the waters.  this boat was hitting the waves, so  hard it sounded like cracked glass.  The boiler was steaming up just as a pot soup cooking on the stove. If this boat was really a green house the flowers would have really grown  to  the top. The waves was so strong and high that it just pushed this boat down stream.  As it moved it started calming down in the middle of the night to the wee hours of the morning. The sail was flying high as well. Could this be a greenhouse to grow flowers or is this anhouse that was blown away in a storm?

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