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
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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
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” poet Theodore Roethke uses sensory details and ambiguous language to persuade both the boy and the reader that the boy still loves his father, despite him being an alcoholic. On the third sentence of the first stanza, Roethke uses ambiguous language by stating: “But I hung on like death. Such waltzing was not easy.” Although this plainly means that the boy was holding onto his father without ease, it can be interpreted in another way; the boy still loves his father, even though it is hard to love him with his alcoholism at times, and the boy still loves his father very much. The boy is reflecting on this idea while waltzing with his
The next two lines say, “hung on like death” and “ waltzing was not easy” this shows that the child stands by their father and it wasn’t that easy. Continuing with the second stanza the child describes more about going through this crazy life. “ We romped until the pans/ Slid from the shelf;/ My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself”. The first two lines of the stanza say that the child and their father keep trying in life through the good and bad times.
“My Papa’s Waltz,” written by Theodore Roethke, tells of a boy's waltz with his father. While light on the surface, the words hint that there may be a darker nature to the poem. The father, who is a hard-working laborer, has different sides to him that leave the son with ambivalent feelings. Told from the first person point of view of the son, the speaker describes the details of a waltz while his mother simply stands to the side. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” uses an extended metaphor and carefully placed syntax in order to portray the complex relationship between the speaker and his father with a light tone.
Doing this she creates a real-world connection between the text and real life. Duffy uses alliteration to grab the reader's attention to certain words and phrases. In the poem it said
The use of the phrase "Sundays too my father got up early" (Hayden, line 1) creates a sense of routine and repetition, emphasizing the father's commitment to his family. The tone is also tinged with regret, as the speaker reflects on how he never “thanked" (Hayden, line 5) his father for his sacrifices. This suggests a sense of missed opportunities and a deeper complexity to the father-son relationship. Lastly, both poems use sound devices to enhance the emotional impact of the language. Roethke's poem uses alliteration, with the repeated "w" sounds in "waltzed me off to bed" (Roethke, line 15) creating a sense of movement and rhythm.
Although one may misinterpret the first paragraph, “the whiskey on your breath, could make a small boy dizzy; but I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy” (Line 1- 4), it means that, despite the fact that the father was slightly drunk, he was capable of waltzing with his son, albeit clumsily. He was excitedly frolicking with his son and certainly not pummeling him as some readers may think. Lines in the second stanza, “we romped until the pans, slid from the kitchen shelf; my mother’s countenance, could not unfrown itself” (Line 5-8), suggests that the child was clearly enthusiastic about the waltz only to the penitence of his concerned mother. To further suggest that the poem is written as a warm nostalgic memory, the author employs a waltzing tune and
One symbol in “My Papa’s Waltz” would be the dancing in general. We can easily see that the boy is having a hard time doing that dance. “My right ear scraped a buckle” (line 12). “You beat time on my head” (line 13). Although the dance was difficult for the boy, he still hung on to his father.
Throughout “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays”, the author’s reflect on how their fathers were hard workers, although each memory is emotionally different. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, Roethke remembers his father coming home from work and his hands “Was battered on one knuckle” (Line 10). Even though the father had a long day at work, the boy recounts him coming home and dancing with him. Whereas “Those Winter Sundays”, Hayden recalls his fathers hard work by describing his “Cracked hands that ached/
In the song “Happy” Williams’s example of alliteration is “Here comes bad news, talkin ' this and that” (Line 13) the T repeats three times in this line. In conclusion, the song “Happy” is a literary work of musical art. Pharrell Williams incorporates the use of several of the poetic devices in his song. These literary elements include personification, metaphor, simile, and alliteration.
In the novel Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech, Jack grows tremendously throughout the course of his school year. He grows tremendously through the extended teaching of Miss Stretchberry, and this teaching allows him to learn more and become a better poet. One way she helps him became a better poet is by teaching him about the use of alliteration in poems (14). This helps Jack expand his knowledge of all of the different literary devises you can use in a poem, which also gets him thinking more and about what all and how he could use this literary devise in his poems. The second way she helps him grow as a poet is by teaching him about onomatopoeias (19).
Another example of this, in the last stanza, lines 15-16, is made as Roethke notes “[t]hen waltzed me off to bed/[s]till clinging to your shirt.” The last lines of the poem show the true relationship at the end of all the confusion lost in the midst of the middle of the poem. The father loves his son and waltzes him to bed and the boy, loving his father, slings to his shirt to stay with him. The poem expresses the confusion and complexity created in a relationship such as this one between father and son, but at the end, the confusion is unnecessary and what prevails is not the negatives, but instead the positive aspect of
Every story consists of different elements, such as characters, plotlines, and settings. Nonetheless, many stories portray the same messages or ideas. “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, depicts a reckless father who is loved by his child, while “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, depicts a hardworking father whose child is indifferent to him. Though the poems depict exceptionally different childhoods, both contribute to the idea that perceptions of parents alter as one grows into adulthood. Both poems use harsh words and critical tones in order to convey this notion, however in “My Papa’s Waltz,” they signify the recklessness of the father and how the narrator perceives his father as an adult, while in “Those Winter Sundays,” they
Although “Papa” may not be the most sensitive man around, but he is still to be a hero in his son's eyes. Referring from the title of “My Papa’s Waltz”, “Papa” does not seem like he’s being violent intentionally but not accidentally hurting his son. This poem also, symbolizes dance in the relationship of a father and
In this poem all the son sees is battered knuckles on his father with “palms caked hard by dirt.” This paints a description of an abusive father that does not love his son because if he did love his son he would not hurt him. The father is first introduced with “whiskey on his breath” (line 1) which can be inferred that he is an alcoholic and this creates a negative image that the reader can see and even smell. The son though seems to notice all this, but still seems to love his father and admire him. The waltz represents a repetitive step and in the poem the waltz is his father’s constant abuse and interrupts the sweet idealistic dance.
Author’s use poetic devices to help them write poems. In the poem “Thou Blind Man’s Mark” written by Sir Phillip Sidney he used a poetic device called alliteration. He used alliteration to complex his attitude toward desire. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial constant sound in words. It works to make pleasing arrangements.