Expansive, dynamic, displaying an electrifying command of language and sound, Theodore Roethke’s poems pulse with a rich, seductive music. They are also audaciously honest. Writing with the courage to strip away consoling illusions, Roethke explored the depths of his inner life to create a testament to the mysteries of being. This perceptive selection by poet and critic Edward Hirsch includes well-known works such as “My Papa’s Waltz” and “The Lost Son,” as well as several of Roethke’s poems for children and a generous sampling of his notebook writings, offering a glimpse of the poet at work with the raw materials of language and ideas.

Edward Hirsch is a celebrated poet and champion for poetry and the author of several books of poetry and criticism, including How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry and The Heart of American Poetry. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Rome Prize, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for literature, he is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

About the American Poets Project

Elegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and introduced by today’s most discerning poets and critics.