1. Root Cellar
Roethke, in
his boyhood spend much of his time in a large commercial green house run by his
family. His growing up in such family made him examine the plants. As a result,
he tries to connect the human life with plants.
From the
poem, metaphorically, he aims to say that till human beings have a drop of
blood, they make struggle to survive. Like human beings, plants also make
struggle to survive. Its example can be found in root cellar where plants are
making struggle to survive and reproduce even in the ugly atmosphere. In this
regard, he may say that nothing would sleep in the root cellar. It means that
plants of root cellar do not accept the death easily even though they are in
pathetic condition. The poet encourages us to make struggle to survive. Being
hopeless, we should not stay idle till we have a thread of hope of life.