--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So much of adolescence is an ill-defined…" description: "\"So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and time, Another condition.\" — Theodore Roethke" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg" --- # So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An… ![“So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and time, Another condition.” quote by Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg) > “So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and time, Another condition.” [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Adolescence feels like an undefined, painful waiting for a different time or place, reflecting a sense of longing and transition. **In simple terms:** Teen years feel like a painful waiting for change. Key Takeaway Recognize and navigate transitional feelings. Themes identity transition longing Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary psychological When to use this quote - counseling - education - creative writing - peer support - family discussions Key Concepts existential angst self‑discovery psychological development Questions to Reflect On - How can supportive environments ease this transitional pain? - What creative outlets help express this longing? A Different Perspective Not all adolescents experience this intensity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adolescence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Ill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ill/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Youth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/youth/) ## Related quotes > [“I will murder you by the billions to give you immortality. I will set fire to your civilization to light your way forward. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-h-wilson/i-will-murder-you-by-the-billions-to-give-you-immortality-i-will-set/) [Daniel H. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-h-wilson/) > [In the end, living is defined by dying. Book- ended by oblivion, we are caught in the vice of terror, squeezed to bursting by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-beckett/in-the-end-living-is-defined-by-dying-book-ended-by-oblivion-we-are/) [Bernard Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-beckett/) > [In the end, living is defined by dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-beckett/in-the-end-living-is-defined-by-dying/) [Bernard Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-beckett/) > [Youth is the season of tragedy and despair. Youth is the time when one's whole life is entangled in a web of identity, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-glasgow/youth-is-the-season-of-tragedy-and-despair-youth-is-the-time-when-one/) [Ellen Glasgow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-glasgow/) > [The years between thirty-five and sixty-five revolve before the passive mind as one unexplained, confusing merry-go-round. True, they are a merry-go-round of ill-gaited and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/the-years-between-thirty-five-and-sixty-five-revolve-before-the/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [All lovers live by longing, and endure: Summon a vision and declare it pure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/all-lovers-live-by-longing-and-endure-summon-a-vision-and-declare-it/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [Most adults would not dream of belittling, humiliating, or bullying (verbally or physically) another adult. But many of the same adults think nothing of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-steinberg/most-adults-would-not-dream-of-belittling-humiliating-or-bullying/) [Laurence Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-steinberg/) > [Adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul struggle against each other for possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/adolescence-is-when-the-very-worst-and-best-impulses-in-the-human/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) > [The donning of the ear buds marks the beginning of teen life, when children set off on their own for the passage through adolescence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/the-donning-of-the-ear-buds-marks-the-beginning-of-teen-life-when/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) > [Being an adult is the ability to postpone a want for the sake of a family need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hogan/being-an-adult-is-the-ability-to-postpone-a-want-for-the-sake-of-a/) [Chris Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hogan/) > [The idols of one's adolescence tend to endure - you never forget how you worshipped them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/the-idols-of-one-s-adolescence-tend-to-endure-you-never-forget-how/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [Teenagers complain there's nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-phillips/teenagers-complain-there-s-nothing-to-do-then-stay-out-all-night/) [Bob Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-phillips/) > [Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or notworth living. School…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pipher/teenage-girls-are-extremists-who-see-the-world-in-black-and-white/) [Mary Pipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pipher/) > [Having children truly ends adolescence. We are all either parents or children: responsibility-takers or those who demand from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shapiro/having-children-truly-ends-adolescence-we-are-all-either-parents-or/) [Ben Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shapiro/) > [They must move from a psychological state of victimization to a psychological state of accepting responsibility. The Palestinians must leave behind their revolutionary adolescence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-shavit/they-must-move-from-a-psychological-state-of-victimization-to-a/) [Ari Shavit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-shavit/) ## More by Theodore Roethke > [I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-wake-to-sleep-and-take-my-waking-slow-i-feel-my-fate-in-what-i/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/those-who-are-willing-to-be-vulnerable-move-among-mysteries/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [A lively understandable spirit Once entertained you. It will come again. Be still. Wait.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/a-lively-understandable-spirit-once-entertained-you-it-will-come/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [I came to love, I came into my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-came-to-love-i-came-into-my-own/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [I bleed my bones, their marrow to bestowUpon that God who knows what I would know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-bleed-my-bones-their-marrow-to-bestowupon-that-god-who-knows-what-i/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [All finite things reveal infinitude: The mountain with its singular bright shade Like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow, The after-light upon ice-burdened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/all-finite-things-reveal-infinitude-the-mountain-with-its-singular/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [We think by feeling. What is there to know?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/we-think-by-feeling-what-is-there-to-know/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [I can hear, underground, that sucking and sobbing, In my veins, in my bones I feel it,- The small water seeping upward, The tight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-can-hear-underground-that-sucking-and-sobbing-in-my-veins-in-my/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/over-every-mountain-there-is-a-path-although-it-may-not-be-seen-from/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [(I measure time by how a body sways.)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-measure-time-by-how-a-body-sways/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [To follow the drops sliding from a lifting oar, Head up, while the rower breathes, and the small boat drifts quietly shoreward...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/to-follow-the-drops-sliding-from-a-lifting-oar-head-up-while-the/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [Any fool can take a bad line out of a poem; it takes a real pro to throw out a good line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/any-fool-can-take-a-bad-line-out-of-a-poem-it-takes-a-real-pro-to/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [Love begets love. This torment is my joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/love-begets-love-this-torment-is-my-joy/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [“I Knew a Woman" I knew a woman, lovely in her bones, When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them; Ah, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-knew-a-woman-i-knew-a-woman-lovely-in-her-bones-when-small-birds/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [A mind too active is no mind at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/a-mind-too-active-is-no-mind-at-all/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) [Explore all 116 Theodore Roethke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) ## More Adolescence quotes > [They must move from a psychological state of victimization to a psychological state of accepting responsibility. The Palestinians must leave behind their revolutionary adolescence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-shavit/they-must-move-from-a-psychological-state-of-victimization-to-a/) [Ari Shavit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-shavit/) > [Having children truly ends adolescence. We are all either parents or children: responsibility-takers or those who demand from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shapiro/having-children-truly-ends-adolescence-we-are-all-either-parents-or/) [Ben Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shapiro/) > [Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or notworth living. School…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pipher/teenage-girls-are-extremists-who-see-the-world-in-black-and-white/) [Mary Pipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pipher/) > [Teenagers complain there's nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-phillips/teenagers-complain-there-s-nothing-to-do-then-stay-out-all-night/) [Bob Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-phillips/) > [The idols of one's adolescence tend to endure - you never forget how you worshipped them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/the-idols-of-one-s-adolescence-tend-to-endure-you-never-forget-how/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [Being an adult is the ability to postpone a want for the sake of a family need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hogan/being-an-adult-is-the-ability-to-postpone-a-want-for-the-sake-of-a/) [Chris Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hogan/) > [The donning of the ear buds marks the beginning of teen life, when children set off on their own for the passage through adolescence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/the-donning-of-the-ear-buds-marks-the-beginning-of-teen-life-when/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) > [Adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul struggle against each other for possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/adolescence-is-when-the-very-worst-and-best-impulses-in-the-human/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) > [Most adults would not dream of belittling, humiliating, or bullying (verbally or physically) another adult. But many of the same adults think nothing of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-steinberg/most-adults-would-not-dream-of-belittling-humiliating-or-bullying/) [Laurence Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-steinberg/) > [If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/if-you-can-t-count-they-can-cheat-you-if-you-can-t-read-they-can-beat/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“He'd possessed all the key elements of a school shooter: hormones, misery, ammunition. People wondered how something like Columbine could happen. Jude wondered why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-hill/he-d-possessed-all-the-key-elements-of-a-school-shooter-hormones/) [Joe Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-hill/) > [ I remember realizing, when I did Little Women \[1994\], that that was the only time girls that age were being written about. It was… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winona-ryder/i-remember-realizing-when-i-did-little-women-1994-that-that-was-the/) [Winona Ryder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winona-ryder/) > [Content without style is propaganda or adolescence. Style without content is decadence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/content-without-style-is-propaganda-or-adolescence-style-without/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [Adolescence is interesting. I mean, all of life is interesting and all of life is transitionary. But I think there is an exponential growth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-henson/adolescence-is-interesting-i-mean-all-of-life-is-interesting-and-all/) [Bill Henson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-henson/) > [“Yet GenX'er teens didn't slow down--they were just as likely to drive, drink alcohol, and date as their Boomer peers and more likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-m-twenge/yet-genx-er-teens-didn-t-slow-down-they-were-just-as-likely-to-drive/) [Jean M. Twenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-m-twenge/) [Browse all 787 Adolescence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and time, Another condition.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Theodore Roethke" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined-dying-an-intolerable-waiting/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Adolescence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined-dying-an-intolerable-waiting/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24e/theodore-roethke-4077_adolescence_so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined_1409076.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and…” — Theodore Roethke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Theodore Roethke", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "So much of adolescence is an...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined-dying-an-intolerable-waiting/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/so-much-of-adolescence-is-an-ill-defined-dying-an-intolerable-waiting/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```