Hetal

I Knew A Girl By Theodore Roethke

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 **“I Knew A Woman” By Theodore Roethke Script** The poem “I Knew A Woman”, written by Theodore Roethke, gives a detailed description of a single woman from a man’s perspective. The first stanza begins with Roethke’s word play that utilizes repetition in order to enhance the poem by creating a sense of motion. Repetition is seen throughout the poem but is most often seen in this first stanza. The words “when she moved, she moved more ways than one” in line three shows that like the woman, the poem would also move in many ways. Additionally, the words “lovely in her bones” emphasize the movement of the poem as the reader gets a sense of the woman moving with her bones. The playful diction seen in “the shapes a bright container can contain!” can be interpreted as a statement in which the “container” is a sexual reference to a woman. On the other hand, the “shapes” could be describing the various ways the woman’s body moves. In the second stanza, the speaker highlights the motions of the woman’s body with a Greek ode reference. The words “Turn”, “Counter-turn”, and “Stand” do not only describe the woman’s movements, but are also the English equivalents to the Greek strophe, antistrophe, and epode. The woman’s movements are what seem to inspire the turn and re-turn of the poems language. Strophe, antistrophe, and epode are references to the original Greek choral ode structure which includes a three-part stanza. Strophe represents an ideological position, antistrophe represents another side, and the epode is a summary of both. When the speaker says “I, poor, I, the rake”, he is making a sexual reference to himself being the rake as he progresses, just as a rake does when doing work. A counter-turn is also used to describe a rhetorical device in which repeating words are seen in reverse order. This can be seen in line 21, “She moved in circles, and those circles moved.” Stanza three also contains phrases that have various connotations. For example, “Her full lips” being “pursed” can represent the lips on the woman’s face or represent her sexual genitals. The speaker is showing that the woman is in control as she chooses to “seize” the situation. He shows that she the dominant partner as she has “played it light and loose” with him. The fourth stanza shows the speakers feeling toward the woman and her movements. He explains that the woman is young and keeps him happy and playful. The age difference between him and the woman is seen as he previously called her bones “lovely” and describes his to be “old.” Although he is older, the speaker still “live[s] to learn her wanton ways”. The word “wanton” shows that the woman is sexually immodest. This has led the speaker to become a “martyr” to her and is suffering from the desire of wanting her.