INTRINSIC ELEMENTS ANALYSIS: Musical Devices and Tone in Theodore Roetkhe’s The Waking

by: Andini Azis

Abstract

         In this writing, the writer tries to analyze the instrinsic elements of “The Waking” by Theodore Roetkhe. The purpose of this analysis is to understand the using of musical devices and tone in the poetry. The writer uses the theories of musical devices and tone with close reading method in analyzing the poetry. The writer finds that the poetry is dominated by alliteration which almost can be found in every stanza of the poetry. In conclusion, the musical devices and tone of the poetry enrich the meaning of the poetry itself.

Keywords: villanelle, alliteration, rhyme, tone

 1. Introduction

    Poetry is one of genres in literature. When we try to define it, we will find out that poetry, just like love, is not something easy to be defined.  Laurence Perrine in “Sounds and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry” (1969:3) defines poetry as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. From that definition, we can say that poetry contains a complexity of human’s feeling and mind. In order to understand the meaning of a poetry, analyzing the poetry itself will be very helpful. We have to use our feeling to catch the feeling of it. A poetry can be interpreted differently because each person has their own feeling, their own opinion, their own understanding or their own experience. By learning to analyze poetry little by little, and step by step, we will be able to have a greater understanding about its meaning.

2. Purpose of the Study

    The purposes on this study are:

  1. To understand the using of musical devices in the poetry.

  2. To understand the using of tone in the poetry.

  3. To appreciate a work of literature.

3. Scope of The Study

    The scope of this study is the analysis of musical devices and tone in poetry entitled “The Waking” by Theodore Roetkhe.

4. The Poet, the Poem and the Paraphrase

4.1 Biography of the Poet

    Theodore Roethke was born on May 25, 1908, in Saginaw, Michigan, America. As a child, Roethke spent much time in his father and his uncle’s greenhouse, which influenced many Roethke’s works. Roethke attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1925, and graduated magna cum laude in 1929. In 1954, his book The Waking was awarded the PulitzerPrize. In 1953, Roethke married Beatrice O'Connell. In 1963, he suffered a heart attack in his friend S. Rasnics' swimming pool, and died on Bainbridge Island, Washington, aged 55.

4.2 "The Waking" by Theodore Roethke

The Waking (1953)

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me; so take the lively air,

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

4.3 The Paraphrase of The Waking

    Death is something that surely will come to every living creature. Human beings have to have a strong believe about their fate. Instead of being afraid of the death, human beings have to choose to live their lives and look for experiences. In the end, life is a lesson, we will learn it when we through.

5. Discussion

5.1 Musical Devices of “The Waking”

    The Waking by Theodore Roethke is a villanelle. In the poem, there are six stanzas consisting of five tercets with A-B-A rhyme scheme and a concluding quartrain with A-B-A-A rhyme scheme. The first and the third line of the first tercet, I wake to sleep and take my waking slow and I learn by going where I have to go, are repeated in the other four tercets and become the final two lines of the quartrain. As the refrain, the two sentences establish haunting echoes which manifest either a self reminder or a self encouragement.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

    In the first line of the first stanza, we have already got a perfect rhyme; wake and take which have identical final stressed vowels. As for its second line, it provides gratifying sounds with its alliteration from the words feel,  fate and fear. Roethke creates another rhyme in this stanza by giving matching sounds, slow and go, at the end of intervening lines. 

We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

    The three lines provide their own rhyme and their own pleasure. The sounds of we, think and feeling in the first line have similar ‘i’ sounds which make the whole sentence becomes pleasurable to be read and heard. It goes the same like the sounds of the words hear, being and ear in the second line of this stanza. They have similar vowel sounds, especially for hear and ear which its rhyme is perfect. A-B-A rhyme scheme is being showed in this stanza, as the second tercet of the poem, by the words know, ear and slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

   In this stanza he gives a variation by using o sounds in every line of the stanza. Such assonance gives us another haunting echo of rhyme everytime we hear it, especially when it comes to the combination of the words those and close, which have a perfect rhyme. This stanza is the third tercet, with A-B-A rhyme scheme. Even though the words you and go do not have perfect identical sounds, but they have similar sounds.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

    After all those variations of vowel sounds, Roethke, once again, gives another variation by presenting alliteration in the first line of this stanza. The words takes, the, Tree and tell draw a melody for the poem together.

Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me; so take the lively air,

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

   This stanza is like a falling action in a plot. Thus, instead of giving another complex variation of musical devices in this stanza, Roethke composes this stanza with a light rhyme yet meaningful. 

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

   Roethke wants to reinforce his feeling by playing with consonance and alliteration of the consonant s, which makes every word with consonant s in the first two lines of the stanza feels to have a strong stressing. As a closing, this stanza presents the conlusion of the poem. 

5.2 The Tone of “The Waking”

    In “The Waking”, Roethke’s attitute or the tone of the poem is suggested in every line of it. From its musical devices, combined with some descriptions about nature, it can be said that its tone is calm and peaceful, yet encouraging. Roethke himself shows that he accepts his fate by realizing that he cannot fear it or run away from it. The keywords or the main thoughts of the poem are the refrain:

I wake to sleep and take my waking slow 

I learn by going where I have to go

    The reason why Roethke keeps on repeating those sentenses is because both sentences, like what I said before, manifest either a self reminder or a self encouragement which indicates that Roethke is on his meditation or his muse about life, death and everything in between. We can say that Roethke wants us to catch his feeling through those rhymes, to feel our own fate, and to sense particular thing about living. 

6. Conclusion

   After analyzing “The Waking” in regard to its musical devices and tone followed by a short explanation of the poem’s meaning in it, we can know that Theodore Roethke has a strong spiritual life. He realizes that every living creature has its own fate and will die in the end. By realizing that, Roethke has a higher spirit to live his life well before facing his God. Using beautiful musical devices with its repetition and many variations in it means that Roethke wants to reinforce his state of mind beautifully and calmly too because we know that life can be understood by learning it slowly, not in a hurry. In the end, we can say that “The Waking” is one of Theodore Roethke’s greatest poems because it has beautiful aspects of music or rhyme and a deep meaning.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Kennedy, X. J. 1991. 5^th ed. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: HarperCollins Publishers

Meyer, Michael. 1990. 2^th ed. The Bedford: Introduction to Literature. Boston: St. Martin’s Press

Oliver, Mary. 1994. A Poetry Handbook. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Hardcourt

Perrine, Laurence. 1963. 2nd ed. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. United States of America: Harcourt College Pub.

Seager, Allan. 1968. The Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke. New York: McGraw-Hill

"Theodore Roethke". Poetryfoundation.org. 2017.

    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/theodore-roethke  (01 Juni 2017)

Thrall, William Flint, and Addison Hibbard. 1960. A Handbook To Literature. New York: Odyssey Press.

"Villanelle". Poetryfoundation.org. 2017.
 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/glossary-   terms/detail/villanelle (06 Juni 2017)