My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
While the subject of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to show him reminiscing on his relationship and many memories, good and bad with his father from when he was a child. Imagery is used to represent the joyful or even unsure times that Roethke and his father experienced. His father arrives home, after work not wasting time to wash his hand leaving them “a palm caked hard by dirt,” to make sure that he gets to hang out with his son before bedtime. As the boys played around making messes and maybe breaking something here and …show more content…
Roethke develops a negative, but yet faithful tone with imagery embedded in a good portion of the poem. Stanza one mentions “Whiskey on your breath … Such waltzing was not easy. Leading to people thinking that the Roethke might have been beaten as a child. “Waltzing,”is a dance that is usually graceful but hard to keep up if you do not know how to dance it properly with your partner. Explaining why he “held on like death” show that the child is fearful that he could fall or get hurt from not knowing how to, but yet still waltzes with him. Putting a picture in the reader's mind that the poet wants to still be with his father, and that he wants to trust his father. The rhythmical use of meter Roethke incorporates in “My Papa’s Waltz” also helps the reader’s imagination. Just like Roethke’s usage of rhyme within the poem, his use of rhyme skeme helps the reader visualize this relationship between the father and the son in the poem. The rhythmic pattern of Roethke’s diction allows the reader to think of a tune to accompany his poem. Throughout the piece, Roethke relies on the reader’s imagination to interpret this deeply emotional piece and be interpreted into what they think sounds best and makes most
My Papa's Waltz Syntax
690 Words | 3 PagesIn discussions of “My Papa’s Waltz,” one controversial issue has been that several people believe it’s an abuse issue. On the other hand, some readers argue it is not abuse although, a loving dance between a father and son. While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to show a beating of a son by his father that is told in a beautiful dance. Roethke uses imagery, syntax and diction which brings his poem together to reveal a profound meaning.
My Papas Waltz: Abusive Relationship Between Father And Son
274 Words | 2 PagesMy papas waltz To me “My papas waltz” is about an abusive relationship between father and son. Some may say that it’s just a dance in a kitchen, or it’s just a boy who was dancing with his dad but got hurt so he was put to bed. Through this essay I will explain to you how it is not just a dance, or how it’s just a little boy getting hurt. Through this poem on line 5 you can see clearly that they are not in fact dancing but romping, meaning the child is playing roughly or energetically.
My Papa's Waltz And Daddy Comparison
437 Words | 2 PagesThough the two poems are similar thematically, they are very different structurally. For Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” it is clear that the boy is actually dancing with his father, making the title completely understandable, which is not always the case. Structurally, the poem is fairly simple and consistent. The lines are written in iambic trimeter, giving it a very steady feeling.
A Rhetorical Analysis Of Waltz By Roethke
150 Words | 1 PagesFurther, Roethke uses word diction to set the overall tone for this poem. The word “waltz” which is used frequently throughout the text means “to dance in triple time performed by a couple who as a pair turn rhythmically around and around as they progress around the dance floor.” If Roethke was undergoing abuse, the author would choose unfavorable words to describe encounters with his father. Instead, Roethke uses heartening words to get his message across; which is that he will cherish the memorable times he shared with his father. Another word easily misinterpreted is “romped” used in line five, which gives readers a negative connotation; but in truth means “ to play roughly and energetically”
My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
879 Words | 4 Pages“The whiskey on your breath/Could make a small boy dizzy,” (lines 1 and 2) portrays the father as having drunk a large amount of alcohol, enough to make his son feel dizzy at the scent of his breath. Alcohol is known to cause abuse issues, proving to be one probable cause of the abuse within the father and son’s relationship. “[h]alf of all domestic abuse involve drinking. The relationship between alcohol and child abuse, specifically, is particularly close, with alcohol abuse being a contributing factor to child abuse and child abuse being a contributing factor to adult alcoholism” (Alcohol Rehab Guide). Roethke’s words, “The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle,” (lines 9-10) portrays the father’s hand as worn.
What Is The Tone Of My Papa's Waltz
1053 Words | 5 PagesPoems can contain a plethora of concepts, feelings, and meanings which either the speaker or reader can bring forth and relate with. Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” brings this into consideration, as the poem is oftentimes seen as an autobiographical account of Roethke’s own childhood experience. Having a conflicted relationship with his father, Roethke had written many poems about personal memories, mainly portraying a tension marked with both love and fear. Theodore Roethke utilizes rhythmic structure, symbolism, and ambiguity in “My Papa’s Waltz” to construct the implications of a temperamental relationship between father and son.
My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays Analysis
871 Words | 4 PagesThe 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.
Critical Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
734 Words | 3 PagesThe purpose of the text is to entertain readers and to show readers a part of Roethke's childhood. The poem discusses Roethke’s relationship with his father. His father is described as a drunk, with hints of violence. This can be concluded from the lines ‘The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle’.
Compare And Contrast Sylvia Plath And My Papa's Waltz
846 Words | 4 PagesIn 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
My Papa's Waltz Devices Analysis
563 Words | 3 PagesA 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.
Figurative Language In My Papa's Waltz
588 Words | 3 PagesIn 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.
Compare And Contrast My Papa's Waltz
596 Words | 3 PagesThe 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
What Is The Theme Of Violence In 'My Papa's Waltz'
664 Words | 3 PagesIn the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke illustrates the complex relationship between a little boy and his father by juxtaposing images of love and violence through word choices that portray feelings of fear yet affection for his father. Roethke’s shifting tone encompasses distress and a sense admiration that suggests the complexities of violence both physically and emotionally for the undercurrents of his father and son relationship. 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.
Imagery And Irony In Percy Shelley's Ozymandias
788 Words | 4 PagesThe most powerful pharaohs of Egypt will be forever immortalized within history. However, in the case of Ozymandias (Ramses II) his statue, as a representation of him, is left in the dust of the sands, decrepit in the place that was once his kingdom of Thebes (GCSE). In Percy Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias,” a Petrarchan sonnet, Shelley thoroughly disvalues Ramses within the realms of three speakers: The narrator, the traveler, and Ozymandias himself. Percy uses mostly both visual imagery and irony to narrate the lost accomplishments of a King, therefore conveying the mortality of personal glory.
Analysis Of Othello's Jealousy In 'The Awakening'
500 Words | 2 PagesAlso it is depicted how the father is cruel and at the same time gentle. Booby Fang , a literary analyst, showed how this poem can have mixed feelings of interpretation. He mentions how the poem is like a seesaw where the elements of joy, which Fang notes as the figure of the waltz and the rhythm it has, balances with elements of fear which he mentions happens through the effects of diction used in the novel such as the words like romped, scraped, beat, and whiskey. The narrator in the poem is remembering an incident in his childhood which shows that thet there were qualities in his father that were good and bad. He mentions that the achievement of this poem is that it permits readers to access such powerful memories in their own lives in ways consistent with the words and construction of the
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