“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke uses the repetition of the phrases “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow” and “I learn by going where I have to go” to impart the main themes of life as a dulled version of sleep and of learning as an involuntary requirement. These themes bolster the message of reform and dissatisfaction that the author sees in the culture around him.
I love these sentiments- not because I agree with them thematically, but because they are profoundly spot-on. So much of what I learn is not the voluntary, romanticized knowledge, but the experience from happenstance and from requirements- for better or worse, I suppose… I think the lessons you learn when you’re figuratively “lost in the woods” are the ones that remain ingrained and a part of you. They touch not only the logical, but also the emotional parts of your mind and sink past the inhibitions a hazy unreality.
So much of life is absorbed in fantasy musings and dream-like escapes from “waking,” so much so that the readmission into reality has to be taken slowly and purposefully- allowing the “sleeper” time to readjust to the imperfection of actuality. This acceptance of the mundane, painful, yet joyful and fruitful real life shocks the “sleeper” out of the cycle of sleep and escape. Roethke invites his readers to un-cloud their realities and to be open to enlightenment.
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