Theodore Roethke's "I Knew a Woman"

for Professor Eisenhower
September 30, 1997

Theodore Roethke focuses on a single woman in this poem, as is obvious from the title. This is a woman that he puts on a pedestal, but his description makes this seemingly grandiose praise apropos. To appropriate this description, he uses alliteration and diction. Each of these two devices contribute to the overall image of and emotions about this woman that Roethke knew.

One way he accentuates his feelings about this woman is the repetition of the letter "s" in the front and middle of words throughout the poem, often in key places. The letter "s" is a soft sounding letter, especially as the first letter of a word. When a string of "s" sounds are strung together, there is a sinuousness formed in the reader's mind. Here, it represents the woman's body and her movements: a smooth, flowing order of movements that catch Roethke's eyes, with a softness as her essence.

There are about 40 strong "s" sounds in this 28 line poem, with the word "she" being mentioned almost a dozen times (and "her" mentioned as many, stressing the importance of the person). The placement of these words is strategic, emphasizing the natural sound and feel to the poem as well as the natural softness to her disposition. In the third stanza, this is most obvious: "She played it quick, she played it light and loose; / My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees; / Her several parts could keep a pure repose, / Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose / (She moved in circles, and those circles moved)." Here, there are almost a dozen leading or strong trailing "s"'s weaving through the words, outlining the form one can picture as her "several parts keep a pure repose" and "one hip quiver"s as she "moved in circles, those circles moving." Roethke clearly paid close attention to the physical side of this woman as well, making these small observations that would normally be overlooked.

In the previously mentioned stanza, there are quite a few strong "l"'s.. The letter "l" implies a light and loose feeling (a "liquid" sound in linguistics) like he says in line 17: "She played it [the note] quick, she played it light and loose." This woman he describes is not necessarily "loose" in the sexual connotation of the word, but rather her personality flexible and forgiving, something we see Roethke needs as he compares himself to a rake as she is the sickle (a significance to be discussed shortly). The "l" linguistically maintains a flow from word to word, as is often the case in French ("il" followed by any word beginning with a vowel is especially fluid) and English (the "l" provides a springboard from the speakers tongue to push out the following syllable).

The first stanza has frequent repetition of the hard "c" or "k" sound in the second half: "container can contain," "speak," "Greek," "chorus," and "cheek to cheek." Usually this hard sound has negative connotations, but here it simply provides a pausing point at key words. In English, the hard "c" spits out an extra breath of air causing this brief pause, especially when at the end of a word. The use of "c" and "k" is used periodically in the second stanza as well with "stroked," "Counter," "meekly," "sickle," "rake," "sake," and "make."

In the first half of the second stanza, the letter "t" is used significantly: "stroked," "taught," "Turn," "Counter-turn," "Stand," and "Touch." The effect gained by using "t" is not as obvious or blatant as some of the other letters. Here, it provides a punch to the word, used, again, as emphasis. While the capitalization may seem to provide even more emphasis, here the "t" provides more of an emphasis because "Turn," "Counter-turn," and "Stand" are all poetic terms that are capitalized anyway, meaning they don't gain any significance. Again, the repetition of letters shows Roethke's playful obsession with this woman by drawing attention to these particular words.

Closely connected to the alliteration in this poem is the diction. Roethke's decisions are sometimes plainly obvious, others require some dictionary digging.

In line 12, Roethke describes himself as a "rake" and her as a "sickle." A sickle is a crude instrument used to plow fields, doing the brunt work, whereas a rake follows the sickle and loosens the ground, putting the debris in neat rows. Similarly, Roethke is the one "Coming behind her for her pretty sake," as in, he is not really necessary for the job (or here, the relationship), but he's there to try and make some sort of contribution to the relationship. However, he notices, that together "what prodigious mowing we did make". Roethke felt like this woman complimented his personality and brought out the best in him.

In line 25 of the poem, Roethke "swear"s she "casts a shadow white as stone." The fact that shadows are always black, and black is an archetype for evil and death accentuates the pureness of this woman. The fact that everyone has a black shadow is accepted, even if black has this attached meaning to it, and that this woman seemingly defies nature with her metaphorical white shadow, shows her absolute goodness to Roethke.

In line 27 he also mentions his "old bones" and how they now "live to learn her wanton ways." "Wanton" has a couple similar meanings, but the most appropriate is "causing sexual excitement." Simple enough -- Roethke wants to say he is sexually attracted to this this woman despite either his age or previously negative experiences. Despite the fact that he deals mainly with her more innocent qualities earlier in the poem (aside from the brief mention of her "knees" and her "lips" and how she "stroked"), this provides a more human quality to this woman rather than strictly a goddess-type image.

The connection between the diction and the alliteration is that both devices serve to accentuate his feelings about this woman he describes. In these 28 lines there are dozens of pages worth of potential analysis, but the more straightforward devices (which only became straightforward after several hundred close readings over many years) offer the most insight into what Roethke's descriptions of this woman that he knew.