Connotation In My Papa's Waltz

Sometimes it can be difficult for sons to understand the lessons that fathers teach to them, leading to a disconnect between the two. This is the case for the son and his father in David Bottoms’ “Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt.” As a child, the speaker lacks appreciation for his father, yet nevertheless they share a common love. As an adult, reminiscing on his baseball experiences with his father, the son through his retrospective point of view now appreciates his father for all his father did. This poem employs diction and varying points of view to emphasize the lack of understanding between the two characters, while symbols and figurative comparisons express their mutual love; this poem analyzes the loving, yet dysfunctional relationship

Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” discusses a child and father’s interactions within their kitchen as the mother watches while frowning. Roethke delivers his work through the child’s perspective, an unreliable speaker, which enables an ambiguous tone. This allows the reader to interpret the child and father’s relationship in many ways. Words involved in Roethke’s diction, such as “waltzed,” “romped,” and “dizzy,” indicate enjoyment within the relationship. On the other hand, “beat,” “death,” and “battered” create a sinister picture of abuse. In addition to diction being used to formulate an abusive relationship, the simile, “but I hung on like death,” also reinforces the idea as death typically has a negative connotation. On the contrary,

Have you imagined how the post-apocalyptic world will look like and will you choose try hard to survive or to die? In the book, The Road, written by McCarthy, the sky is dark. It’s cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. Everything has gone, only except some human beings who try every way to survive even by hurting and killing people. It seems that there is no reason to keep surviving in a world which no hopes remain, a father still perseveres to survive with his son and they are sustained by their love. On their journey, the father sacrifices a lot to protect his son and strongly shows his parental love.

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are similar because they focus on the same subject. However, they differ in how the speakers’ feel about their relationship with their parent(s). In Plath’s “Daddy”, the speaker is a daughter thinking about how her father treated her. She tells about how she felt trapped by him and how she tried to ‘kill’ him, line 6 of the poem, but he dies before she has a chance. The ending of Plath’s poem implies that she got married to a man like her father. In Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker seems to be an adult reminiscing his childhood through a metaphor of a dance. The poem suggests that the boy was abused and the mother stood by without doing much about it. Three topics that

The poem begins with a series of negative images, each of which are considered violent and undesirable in a family. For example, “The whiskey on your breath” suggests alcoholism, and “Could make a small boy dizzy” emphasizes that a boy is suffering from the effects of the alcoholic parent. This portrays emotional abuse that explores the possibilities of a toxic father-son dynamic. The line “But I hung on like death” then continues to imply that the father’s careless attitude is hurting the little boy internally. These images give insightful pictures to an unhealthy relationship caused by psychological violence. The speaker then adds a more positive image of dancing with, “Such waltzing was not easy” and “We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf,”. Although most associate Waltzing as an enjoyable dance, it is in reality a metaphor that represents the relationship he has with his father. A father-son bond is supped to be pleasurable like the dance, but instead it is a rough experience like the

The father/son relationship are shown in both poems. Both are adults reflecting on their past. “My Papa’s Waltz” is about how the father would dance daily with the son. Although it was painful when he sometimes missed a step and his “right ear scraped a buckle”, this was a memorable memory for the son (Line 8). The poem has a happy tone of the sons childhood days. “Those Winter Sundays” has a sad dark tone. “Speaking indifferently to him” (Line 10). It is clear that there is little communication between the father and the son. The author remembers how his father woke up early to heat the house and worked hard to provide for the family. Although this poem is much sadder, it still shows love. Both sons understand their fathers efforts but they are shown in

In stanza 3 states “But I hung on like death,” uses simile. It benefits the cause of alcohol that soon becomes tragic for the son. He’s gotten used to it that being abused, death can affect him. Additionally it touches people's ideas to illuminate the true meaning of the poem and to create a negative picture in the reader's mind that is shown by the son of an abusive father. In stanza 13 through 14, “You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt.” It creates a picture that the father is a working man that takes the aggression out on his son. Ultimately, the sense of touch reflects on the pain the son holds in. In short, imagery can emphasize the reader's picture of what my “My Papa's Waltz” be

“Those Winter Sundays” uses a fair amount of symbols. For example, the cold that he feels symbolizes what his father endured to make everything warm. The cold represents the hard work and love that the father has for his children. The warmth that is produced is only from the efforts of the father. “My Papa’s Waltz” also uses a handful of symbols throughout the poem. 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. “But I hung on like death” (line 3). “Still clinging to your shirt” (line 16). We can infer that since the boy still hangs on to his father through a difficult task, he loves him very

From beginning to end, the son calls his father “Baba” to show his affection and admiration. Despite the father’s inability to come up with a new story, the son still looks up to him. This affectionate term also contrasts with the father’s vision of the “boy packing his shirts [and] looking for his keys,” which accentuates the undying love between the father and son (15 & 16) . The father’s emotional “screams” also emphasize his fear of disappointing the son he loves so much (17). Despite the father’s agonizing visions, the son remains patient and continues to ask for a story, and their relationship remains “emotional” and “earthly”--nothing has changed (20-21). Their love, just like the father’s fear and silence,

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. The boy’s mother had a face that “could not unfrown itself” meaning that she was an unhappy wife in a brutal marriage. Mothers are known to be the nice, soft, and loving person in the family. In this poem a mother seems to be the opposite. She is standing in the kitchen watching defensively as her husband is beating her only son. This sets a picture in your mind that the father and son “waltz” is not a pleasant one at

The simile used in the first stanza is “I hung on like death”(3). The next line, “Such waltzing was not easy”(4) suggests that the father and son’s boisterous, wild “romping”(5) around was difficult for the child, and he had to hang on tightly because the father was romping around drunkenly and did not hold onto him well. If he did not hang on as tightly, he might fall and get hurt. This simile could be related to the idiom “hanging on like grim death”, which means to hang on tightly, for fear of falling. The word “grim” might have been omitted so that this line can fit into the iambic trimeter.

Billions of people live in this world, each one taking part in countless relationships. These relationships form through the various interactions of everyday life. There are the relationships between friends, teachers and their students, and even the relationships between pets and their owners, all of which develop unique and amiable friendships over time. These relationships, however, often end and cannot withstand life’s hard ways, leaving only the strongest and deepest bond to survive the storms—the bond within the family. Simon J. Ortiz and Robert Hayden both depict this family bond differently in their poems. In “My Father’s Song,” Ortiz describes the caring and tender relationship between a father and his son. Hayden, however speaks in

In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz, the speaker, Theodore Roethke, writes about a father and son waltzing. Further investigation suggests there is more going on than a waltz. The poet utilizes figure of speech and a negative toned vocabulary throughout the poem. Thus, alleviating the reader of the harsh truth of an abusive relationship whilst never dehumanizing the father.

Everything in life has similarities and differences as long as you're looking for them, but some have more than others. Comparing similarities and difference between two things in life is making a compare and contrast (book) . When comparing and contrasting two pieces of literature you have to observe not only the themes of them but also the plot. Fences by August Wilson and My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke have many similarities and differences throughout the literature due to themes and the plot.

A father and son romping around in the kitchen as the mother is looking. While others may view this poem as a family torn by a father's misfortunes. In line 1, the word “Whiskey” gives some characteristics of the fathers crooked ways. Continuing on, the signs of foul play and roughness with his hands, "battered on one knuckle", and "a palm caked hard by dirt".(11-14) More so, some of “Papa” few escapes most likely consist of a drink when he gets home from a rough day. Concluding, “Papa”makes his own family feel very uncomfortable around him. 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