During his stay in the Netherlands, his many publications included contributions to important literary reviews such as the avant-garde Het Getij, De Gemeenschap, Links Richten, and Forum.

He wrote a famous brochure on Kartini, the Javanese princess and Indonesian national heroine, whose popular letters were published in 1912 and also contributed to Dutch Indies literature.

Soeroto returned to Java by himself in 1932, where he became the personal secretary of his old friend Duke Mangkunegara VII of a noble house of Solo.

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in WWII Soeroto was assumed anti-Axis powers and taken prisoner and tortured by the Kempeitai.

"[3] Indonesian President Sukarno cited Soeroto's poetry on the occasion of the naming and foundation of Indonesia's national airline Garuda in 1949.

"Ik ben Garuda, Vishnoe's vogel, die zijn vleugels uitslaat hoog boven uw eilanden.