The third line also displays the persona’s passiveness in life. He “learns by going where he has to go.” The persona follows the path that is given to him and does not attempt to alter it. Again, consonance is used with the repetition of g to create a soft murmur mimicking the peaceful mood of the poem. In addition to emphasizing the persona’s tone and the mood of the poem, this line also introduces the important theme of knowledge and enlightenment. Naturalism denies the need for the exotic adventures romantics crave but instead values the simple beauties in everyday life. To learn by simply living life affirms this belief and further explains that experience is the way in which one learns.
In the second stanza, the persona’s thoughts on knowledge are developed further as he addresses enlightenment. The persona asserts that there is actually nothing to know and that “we think by feeling.” This solipsistic statement reveals the persona’s naturalistic belief that we are unable to alter our fates. Our powerlessness in our own lives means that no true knowledge exists apart from our own emotions and experiences; it is for this reason that we think by feeling. The complacent mood is maintained here by the phrasing of the persona’s question. He asks, “What is there to know?” The question is rhetoric; the persona knows that there is nothing to know. This easy-going nature maintains the complacent mood.
The second line of the stanza reiterates the importance of experience as the persona’s “being dances from ear to ear.” Dancing is a sensual activity heavily based in self-awareness. Due to the metonymy of ears and head, the ‘being’ is assumed to be the persona’s mind. For his mind to dance then, shows obvious elation. Roethke personifies the persona’s mind to portray experience as the hub of enlightenment.
With the repetition of “I wake to sleep…” following this line, a new meaning is given to waking and it now becomes a symbol for enlightenment as well. Along with this symbol comes an alternate interpretation of the line, “I wake to sleep.” The waking becomes an enlightenment rather than an actual birth as it was in the first stanza. The sleep here may still refer to death, but it also may refer to the mental degeneration that old age brings, hence causing the persona to lose his enlightened state. Similarly, it takes the persona a long time to ‘wake’ as enlightenment comes with the maturity and wisdom age and experience bring.
Next the focus turns from the persona to a friend, with the persona’s question “which are you?” referring to the enlightened or the unenlightened and metaphorically dead. In the next line metaphor becomes reality as the persona states “God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there.” Using metonymy of ground for graves, Roethke has furthered the persona’s complacency. He is at peace with his unalterable fate which will ultimately kill him, and he shows this by blessing the ground. By “walking softly there,” the persona will not fight his fate, but instead will accept it graciously. The repetition of the letter s in this line, along with the other mention of ‘softly’ creates a serene mood. In keeping with the naturalist tenets shown throughout the poem, this line also emphasizes the importance and the beauty of nature. Roethke capitalizes ground, giving it importance, and the persona treats it kindly by blessing it and walking softly. Following this stanza with the line “and learn by going where I have to go,” Roethke again reiterates the persona’s inability to change his fate.
The importance of nature and insignificance of mankind are present again in stanza four when the persona states “Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?” Light taking the tree could refer to light, the traditional symbol of good, destroying the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil from the Bible, which would show the naturalist belief that we are not the deciders of our fate, but rather products of our environment and good and evil are therefore irrelevant. More likely, however, it is an implied metaphor for the cycle of birth and rebirth as light is the fuel that drives photosynthesis. This, along with the capitalization of tree, gives importance to nature. As denoted by the remark “but who can tell us how?” though, the persona demonstrates the offhandedness that contributes to his complacent mood. He is content with not knowing, but simply accepting that it happens.
In the next line the persona states, “the lowly worm climbs up a winding stair.” Comparing humankind to a lowly worm with implied metaphor, the persona acknowledges his powerlessness in his own life and insignificance in the greater scheme of the world. He still attempts to reach enlightenment though, by climbing the symbolic staircase that leads to knowledge.
The importance of nature is furthered as it is personified as “Great Nature” at the beginning of the fifth stanza and the persona states that it “has another thing to do.” Though the sentence continues in the next line, by breaking the sentence here, Roethke gives it another meaning. The persona is saying that nature, symbolic of some higher power, has more important things to worry about than the course of human lives, reiterating the insignificance and fleetingness of human existence. In the next line, however, the persona continues, “To you and me, so take the lively air.” The persona is stating here that both he and his companion will die at the hands of fate so he advises her to “take the lively air” or continue living life and to “learn by going where to go.” The persona’s tone remains carefree and complacent, illustrated by the final line of the stanza where he addresses his companion as lovely. He is not only talking about his own death now, but that of a friend, and he is still cheerful.
In the final stanza of the poem, another paradox is introduced when the persona states that “his shaking keeps him steady.” The shaking he refers to is the frailty of human life and the ability for it to change at any moment. This is distressing, yet it assures the persona at the same time. By accepting this fact, he is able to live his life. He knows that “What falls is always. And is near,” or that death is consistently present, but this knowledge allows him to continue living his life.
“The Waking” is structured as a villanelle, which repeats the first and third lines of the poem three times each. In the waking, they are alternately repeated twice and then form a final couplet at the end of the poem. This, along with the rhyme scheme in which the second and third lines of each stanza always rhyme, function to show the interconnectedness of life or enlightenment and death in the poem. The continuous repetition of the lines “I learn by going where I have to go,” and “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow,” emphasizes the inability to alter fate and the persona’s acceptance of this fact.
“The Waking” is a poem in which the persona reflects on life. He believes that knowledge comes from experience. He holds the solipsistic view that personal emotions are the only truth. His real “waking” comes from knowing, however, that he is not the captain of his fate or the master of his soul; he will die and nothing he will do can change that fact. From this comes his enlightenment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanelle
