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Compare And Contrast My Papa's Waltz

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Compare and Contrast: My Papa’s Waltz and Grape Sherbet

“My papa’s waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a poem about the relationship between father and son, where the son try to teach the father waltzing. “Grape Sherbet” is a poem by Rita Dove, describes his/her childhood memories of father. Both author used literary terms such as simile and alliteration from the line/quote that I pointed out.
Theodore Roethke used simile to explain what was waltzing is like and Rita Dove used alliteration, the name of the recipe. My papa’s waltz his/her dad was drunk while his son/daughter trying to teach waltz and in Grape sherbet his/her dad made recipe of swirled snow. “But I hung on like death/ Such waltzing was not easy” (line 3 and 4). “Dad appears with his …show more content…

In “My Papa’s waltz,” the author used alliteration of /s/ (still and shirt). In “Grape Sherbet,” the author used alliteration of /t/ (trying and taste)/. “Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt” (line 15 and 16). “I’ve been trying/ to remember the taste,/ but it doesn’t exist./ Now I see why/ you bothered,/ father” (line 25-30). The child try to teach the father waltzing but while they are doing it the father messed things up. But at the end his/her dad dances him all the way to bed, and the child still wants to cling on to the whirling, waltzing man the the child loves, doesn’t matter how much the father’s breath smells like whiskey, or how battered his knuckles may be. The father (from Grape Sherbet) made his sherbet, that masterpiece of swirled snow, gelled light. It’s a memory of a Memorial Day picnic with the speaker now realizing there was something to …show more content…

Theodore Roethke and Rita Dove used simile and alliteration, from the quote that I used. In “My Papa’s waltz,” the author used “like” to compare how hard it was for the child (and the dad was drunk) and alliteration of /s/ (still and shirt). In “Grape Sherbet,” the author used alliteration of /t/ (trying and taste) and alliteration of /s/, “swirled snow.” I think that the poem “My Papa’s waltz” has more literary devices than “Grape Sherbet,” but I also think that “Grape sherbet” have more complex theme than “My Papa’s

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