The Waking

"The Waking" is a poem written by Theodore Roethke in 1953 in the form of a villanelle. It comments on the unknowable with a contemplative tone. It also has been interpreted as comparing life to waking and death to sleeping.

In popular culture

 * The poem appears as an object in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
 * An excerpt of the poem also appears at the beginning of Dean Koontz's novel Odd Hours.
 * Kurt Elling sings the poem on his 2007 album Nightmoves.
 * Quoted by the psycho cop in Stephen King's novel Desperation.
 * Quoted in Dana Simpson's "Ozy and Millie."