.......""Root Cellar" is lyric poem that exults in the feisty plant roots that survive in a hostile environment and bring forth a new generation of their species.
Publication
.......Doubleday and Company first published "Root Cellar" in 1948 in Garden City, N.Y., in a collection of Roethke's works entitled The Lost Son and Other Poems.
Tone
.......
.......The
tone is upbeat. The speaker exhibits wonder at, and admiration for, the
plants in the root cellar because of their stubborn determination to survive
and generate new life.
Summary
.......In
the damp chill of a root cellar預n underground or partly underground storage
room or pit for root crops葉he roots, bulbs, stems, shoots, and tubers
never sleep. Instead, they are ever active, struggling to bring forth a
new generation of life. So it is that bulbs break out of their boxes in
search of cracks or holes that admit life-supporting light or offer an
escape route to the outside.
.......Shoots
dangle and droop over the sides of crates or hang down like snakes. The
smell of these denizens of the dark預long with the manure and buildup of
mold against shelves and crates擁s rank. But they refuse to die. Even the
dirt shows signs of life.
Text of the Poem
Nothing would sleep in that
cellar, dank as a ditch,
Bulbs broke out of boxes
hunting for chinks in the dark,
Shoots dangled and drooped,
Lolling
obscenely from mildewed crates,
Hung down long yellow evil
necks, like tropical snakes.
And what a congress of stinks!
Roots ripe as old bait,
Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,
Leaf-mold, manure, lime,
piled against slippery planks.
Nothing would give up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing
a small breath.
Theme
.......The theme of the poem is the speaker's celebration of the hardiness and determination of life forms揺owever small or ugly or insignificant葉o survive and generate progeny even in unfriendly environments.
Interpretation of the Theme
.......One can interpret the theme as applying to anything that struggles fiercely to survive: a country in turmoil, a race of people facing prejudice, a religious movement, a company in financial trouble, an endangered species of animal, a revolutionary idea, a scientific theory, a political party, and so on.
Rhyme
.......Although there is no rhyme scheme in the poem, two lines (4 and 5) do rhyme. Moreover, some words echo the sounds of previous words. For example, stinks echoes chinks, roots echoes shoots, ripe echoes like, rich echoes ditch, rank echoes dank, mold echoes old, planks echoes rank and dank, and life echoes ripe.
Alliteration
.......Roethke relies on alliteration in 迭oot Cellar? to give the poem rhythm and oomph. The following rendition of the poem highlights alliterating sounds.
Nothing would sleep
in that cellar, dank
as a ditch,
Bulbs broke
out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,
Shoots dangled
and drooped,
Lolling
obscenely from mildewed crates,
Hung down long
yellow evil necks, like
tropical snakes.
And what a congress of stinks!
Roots
ripe
as old bait,
Pulpy
stems, rank,
silo-rich,
Leaf-mold,
manure, lime,
piled against
slippery
planks.
Nothing would give
up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing
a small breath.
Other Figures of Speech
.......Following are examples of other figures of speech in the poem. For definitions of figures of speech, see Literary Terms.
Assonance
Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.Hyperbole
Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.Metaphor
Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the darkSimile
Comparison of bulbs to creatures that hunt
Shoots dangled and drooped,Study Questions and Writing Topics
Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates,
Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes
Comparison of shoots to snakes