Abuse In My Papa's Waltz

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One way in which imagery is creating the fearful tone is by Dad's drinking. In the Roethke's poem, "My Papa's Waltz", the imagery is used to develop the tone in which the boy is abused. An example of this can be seen when the speaker says,"But I hung on like death" (line 3). This line shows that the boy was scared of his father. This abuse that this boy was enduring was unbearable when the speaker states,"you beat time on my head" (13). This line shows the reader that the boy remembers getting beat on a certain part of his body which was the boy's head. Then the speaker says about the boy's abuse is, "was battered on one knuckle" (10). The speaker is being abused so much that his father's one knuckle was battered and bruised. By being battered

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