Theodore Roethke was raised in Michigan, where cities and towns are woven with lakes, streams, and rivers. This atmosphere gave Roethke a “mystical reverence for nature,” (McMichael, 1615) and allowed him to take a grotesque image and transform it into natural magnificence. A great example of this is Roethke’s poem “Root Cellar. ” The poem describes a cellar, which most people would consider to be a death-baring, cold place. Instead, Roethke gives the dungeon life and enchantment. The first line gives the reader an idea that the cellar is awake.
In the second line, there is a description of the plants left in numerous boxes that search for a bit of light to help them continue their existence. The plants’ roots hanging from the crates that are packed into the small space are portrayed in the third, fourth and fifth lines. The odor of the cellar is acknowledged in the sixth line. The seventh line describes the aging of the roots. The eighth line describes the stems of the plants and gives them more dimensions. The ninth line depicts the floor’s slipperiness. The tenth and eleventh lines describe how everything in the cellar was trying to hold on to their life for as long as possible.
Roethke’s ability of creating imagery in this poem lets the reader visualize every aspect of the cellar. Roethke uses a few different literary modes to help create his imagery. Metaphor and similes are figures of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison. Metaphors and similes are intertwined throughout this poem. Plant roots are not frequently compared to snakes, but Roethke seems to successfully make the comparison using both a metaphor and simile in the same line:
Shoots dangled and drooped, Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates, Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes. (1617) Personification is a literary mode used when the author gives an inanimate object a human quality. This also helps Roethke to create his imagery. He even gives the dirt on the basement floor life: Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath. (1617) When first reading this poem, Roethke reminded me of my granny’s cellar. As a young child, my family and I would take an annual trip down to Clinton, Indiana.
This is where my granny (great-grandmother) lived. All these trips consisted of the same thing: playing Bunco, catching fireflies, and taking a bath in her white ceramic bathtub. Each year it was interesting to see how much I had grown and how hard it was for me to fit into the tub. The rest of my family used the shower, which was located in the cellar of her house. Roethke describes it well in the first line of his poem, “Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch. ” (1617) It was dark, dusty and infested with spiders so I refused to enter the stairwell.
When I was about nine years old, my parents decided it was time for me to start taking showers in the dungeon. As much as I hated to enter the abyss of spider webs, I unwillingly started the never-ending journey down the flight of stairs. Once down there, I realized that her entire basement was filled with numerous “treasures,” dating all the way back to the early 1900’s. After my first experience in the cellar, I was almost excited to return to see what I could find the next time I got down there. My granny died a few years ago and my mother’s family was forced to sell her house.
We went to retrieve her things and I knew it would be my last trip down to the cellar. Everything had changed in my eyes. The layers of dust now seemed like an indication to how old the things were; unlike before when I thought they were haunting. I believe Roethke’s imagery techniques helped his readers to relate to the root cellar. Most people have visited a place that is very outwardly disgusting, but as they dig deeper more truth comes out. The place once feared has become beautiful. I have found this in my granny’s cellar.
