Big Wind (1948). Content and Description

This poem, from Roethke’s second collection, The Lost Son and Other Poems, published in 1948, describes the effects of a severe rainstorm on the greenhouses that Roethke’s family owned. The poem, however, is not merely a description of a difficult night in the life of a greenhouse owner but an engaging meditation on both the power of nature and the lengths to which humans will go to claim their part of it. The opening lines of the poem detail the damage the storm has done.

The lines “Where were the greenhouses going, / Lunging into the lashing / Wind driving water / So far down the river” (ll. 1-4) indicate that many of the greenhouses have been washed away by the now-flooded river. The majority of the rest of the poem details the efforts of the speaker and his family to save both the “rose-house” (the greenhouse containing roses) and the roses growing in it. During the middle part of the poem, the speaker figures the greenhouse as if it is a ship being tossed about on the sea, noting that “she rode it out / That old rose-house / She hove into the teeth of it” (ll. 21-23).

This image is taken up again when Roethke concludes the poem with the night’s storm abating and morning approaching, telling us the greenhouse “sailed until the calm morning / Carrying her full cargo of roses” (ll. 32-33). While the image of the greenhouse as a cargo ship tossed upon a stormy sea might seem to be just an interesting metaphor, the implications of such an image are far-reaching. The family, whose business is cultivating plants, in effect ordering and controlling nature, is suddenly at the mercy of the storm, another aspect of nature.

What Roethke offers us in this poem is a meditation on the folly of human beings’ thinking that they are ultimately in control of their environment, even, perhaps especially, if they are people who spend their lives growing, pruning, and cultivating nature. The poem reminds us that nature, whether benign or angry, always has the final say.

For Discussion or Writing:
1. How does Roethke use images of water in this poem? Is there anything ironic about the way he describes water?

2. Examine the middle of the poem, where the family is working to save the roses. How do they feel about their livelihood? Is it more than a simple vocation?

3. First read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, focusing on what Dillard says about nature. Next, compare Roethke’s vision of nature with Dillard’s. How do the two describe nature? How do they both reflect their vision of nature in their writing style? With both authors in mind, write a well-developed essay that explores the relationship between art and nature and the role of the poet’s imagination in inducing us to examine/experience nature.