In Evening Air

“In Evening Air” is a beautiful poem written by Theodore Roethke. The poem is valued for its vivid dark images, beautiful language, and fascinating theme. In this narrative, Roethke ponders his own depression and discusses the nature of death, time, and other dark forces that bring endings.

The first hint at the poem’s meaning can be derived from its title: “In Evening Air”. Evening is a classic symbol of endings. The title refers to this solemn part of the day suggests that its theme, meanings, and intentions reside side by side with what the evening brings: an end.

“Dark”, the very first word of the poem, immediately sets a dark tone. Roethke writes “A dark theme keeps me here”. “Theme” here means “dominant feeling”. The words “keep me” imply that he (Roethke) is being held somewhere. “Here” implies that both the reader and Roethke are together in the same place. Roethke loses no time in drawing the reader into the same dark place where Roethke is kept by a dark theme. “Though summer blazes in the vireo’s eye” is the next line. A vireo is a beautiful summer bird, and summer is the brightest and hottest time of the year. Roethke reinforces this imagery by adding the word “blazes”, which gives the image of intense light. Since nature is full of light, the darkness with Roethke is unnatural. The third and forth lines abruptly impose a question upon the reader: “Who would be half possessed / By his own nakedness?” “Nakedness” here may mean a number of things: defenseless, being alone, or simply the human body, while “possessed” refers to infatuation. The word “half” is key, because it implies that while one is still infatuated with his nakedness, he is still conscious of his surroundings. This is opposite of animals (symbols of nature), who are usually fully aware of their surroundings. Therefore, question is directed towards humans, who do spend a great deal of their time pondering themselves. Another meaning could be that Roethke is contrasting himself against the rest of the world. However, the same details still apply: humans or a human pondering his own defenselessness, aloneness, or simply existence.

The third and forth lines seem far removed from the first two, but they are connected if the answer to the question, the effects of the question, or even the question itself is the dark theme that keeps Roethke. The final two lines of the poem shift the reader again into a new direction. “Waking’s my care -- / I’ll make a broken music, or I’ll die.” “Waking” here means “to become cognizant or aware”. In the last line, Roethke compares life to music. Roethke, surrounded by his dark theme, can only get by with a broken life. However, Roethke will continue to lead this broken life, because the alternative is dying. The line could imply that Roethke is not favoring the broken life or death, but simply treating them both as options for him. However, since death comes after “broken music”, it is implied that Roethke’s tone is that of determination, and he does indeed intend to avoid death.

The first stanza is a combination of three ideas. Roethke is kept in darkness even though nature is full of light, either Roethke or humanity is fascinated with their being or predicament, and Roethke intends to become aware and get by with the best life he can lead: a broken one. Throughout his life, Roethke experienced recurring bouts of mental illness: a uniquely powerful depression that offered him “…a new sense of reality” (-Roethke). Roethke also grew up with an affinity for nature. Nature comforted Roethke, yet even nature could not save him from his bouts of depression. This easily fits with Roethke being entrapped within darkness during summer. This links the question in the first stanza as Roethke’s musings during these depressions and the last two lines as Roethke’s determination to live on despite the recurring bouts.

The second stanza is the most complicated. It begins with “Ye littles, lie more close!” “Littles” is not an actual word, and may have many interpretations. It could refer to abstract themes such as hopes or dreams, or “littles” could be more concrete. They could refer to stars, children, or (since Roethke was a teacher) students. Whatever “littles” are, Roethke commands them to “lie more close”, a phrase that may presumably be taken literally. The exclamation point at the end of the line gives it a tone of demand and perhaps desperation. The next two lines are a plea, quite the opposite of the line preceding it: “Make me, O Lord, a last, a simple thing / Time cannot overwhelm.” Roethke might mention God simply as part of the plea, or perhaps to point out how humans may do nothing without him. The simple thing is immune to time, and therefore refers to one who is so simple he does not notice the passing of time.

In the next three lines Roethke tells us of a time when he transcended time, and described it further with: “A bud broke to a rose, / And I rose from a last diminishing.” The plea to become unaffected by time combined with the tale of transcending time in the past tells us that Roethke once was unaffected by time, but he is now and wishes he could somehow return to how he was before. This is an obvious allusion to age: youth often feel unaffected by time because they are young, more healthy, and overall in better shape than adults and remain so for many years. “Diminishing” here means “to become less”. The diminishing, since it is negative, can be tied to the other negative things in the poem: either the darkness the holds Roethke or the passing of time. However, since Roethke mentions the diminishing in a past tense, it is likely that this negative event happened in the past. Whatever it was, Roethke rose from it; he overcame it and grew stronger. Roethke mentions “rose” in both the lines, but each has a different meaning: one is a flower, while the other refers to rising. By using the word twice, though, Roethke has tied the two sentences together with imagery (a bud rising into a rose and Roethke rising from his darkness).