Roethke's "Last Class"

Whether Roethke’s Last Class was an endearing goodbye masked as a rough and harsh recounting of all the things the group had endured and the people they know or as a fictional salute to the young women—I have no clue. I read and re-read the first page so many times, and I still couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to make of it, what it meant, etc. I understand that, much like the title, this is the narrator’s last class to teach his group of students he’s watched blossom throughout the years, but why Roethke decides to be so vicious about it (if it is to be construed that way; I can also see it as a sarcastic joke) is beyond me.

Roethke’s images, to say the least, are unique and poignant and sharp to the eye. I can safely say I’ve never read something like, “Poems with all the charm (if they didn’t lay eggs) of aborted salamanders,” or “the female hill-billy that learned to count.” These descriptions paint such accurate pictures of the things they’re describing that it made me want to so desperately understand the overall attempt this piece was making, but, I just couldn’t get there. The only part that I really enjoyed or made true sense of, I should say, was the rundown of the individual faculty members and the names he gives to all of them. It’s plain to see, just by the language and tone, that between the narrator and the girls, these nicknames have special significance and portrays the particular person exactly. The same goes for the descriptions of the girls themselves. This makes me believe the narrator wants to leave the girls with tough skins, so to speak, but, maybe not.

I like Roethke's poetry immensely, and as for this piece, it wasn’t bad, and I’m sure there is some deeper significance in it somewhere, but presented as is, in this packet, standing alone, it just seemed strange and awkward, with pretty lines to cover up the mean edges.