Of The Poem My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

“My Papa's Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke, and “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden are the two poems that are somewhat similar and both of these poems are about beloved fathers. Father is the man who is spends time with you and takes care of you. While doing so much for the family he gains the respect and love from the family. In these two poems Roethke and Hayden take a flashback at the actions of their fathers. Even though both of these poems propose that their fathers were not perfect, they still love them. I think that Roethke and Haden are regretting that they couldn’t express their feeling to their beloved fathers. They didn’t have strong bonding with their fathers like we have now. Both of the poets are capable of writing great poems

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,

There is a cycle of the negative actions that cause his father to get drunk, however, his father feelings has been expressed by actions not words. For example, the says “you beat time on my head” meaning the how rough the father has been hitting him (Roethke 968). The narrator makes it same to make it fit with the meter of the music to be disguised. Dancing of the music which seems to be more of a beating to the narrator that says “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke 969). As he is dancing with the narrator the father would hit him if he messes up. His father hits the narrator with a belt to his ear without the father actually knowing because his is drunk. The abusive father is doing all of this actions without actually knowing, but still letting go of his fraustion from his work towards his son.

The use of positive connotation in the text is utilised to illuminate the positives of the relationship, as they “romp” and “waltz” their way through a fun life. However, Roethke intentionally included those words with negative connotation to show the constant complexity and imperfect nature of their relationship. In lines 3-4, Roethke states “[b]ut I held on like death:/[s]uch waltzing was not easy,” which is the first metaphor for their relationship. In this quote from the text, as Roethke preaches the difficulty of the waltz, he is really writing about the relationship between his father and son as being “not easy.” And although their relationship is not easy as it goes through life, the boy still “hung on like death,” showing his love for his father and another positive for the relationship. 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

Meanwhile, Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker implies abuse through a metaphor about dancing, where, in lines 5, 6, and 11- 13 the speaker vaguely mentions abuse, saying “We romped until the pans/ slid from the kitchen shelf”, “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle./ you beat time on my head.” These lines imply the father is abusive, boisterously beating the child in the kitchen so much so that pans fell, without actually saying so. In both poems, the speaker experiences abuse from the father figure in their

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

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/ From labor in the weekday…” (Line 3;4). The author suggests his father

“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

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 poem is playful when the poem says, “At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke lines 11-12). The lines can be interpreted as a dad whipping a kid with a belt, but that is not what the author intended

Due to the loss of his and his sister’s money, Walter breaks down and decides to demean himself in front of Lindner, who wishes for the Youngers to rethink moving into his white neighbourhood. However, right before Walter loses all his dignity from grovelling at the white man’s feet, Mama steps in with Travis. Travis is Walter’s son, who he loves and cares for immensely. With his young son there as witness, Walter is finally able to muster up enough determination to face Lindner and refuse his offer of money for their new home. Due to his family and compassion for his son, Walter is able to face his loses and keep moving forward. However, the poem’s speaker has a different temperament towards his situation, “[he wishes he’d] never been born,” (Hughes 23). This man is weary, and is tired from his struggles in life. He no longer has the determination to keep going, unlike Walter. This is due to the fact that he

He does this to not bombard the reader with a dark abusive poem. This can be seen by the metaphorical style of writing he has incorporated in his poem. For instance, the poet chooses a dance instead of outright saying it was an abusive encounter. Additionally, it shows the love the speaker has for the father. Instead of degrading the father he makes him more human to the reader by adding descriptive words. For example, the speaker describes what his father’s hands look like: “With a palm caked hard by dirt” (Roethke, 14). In other words, his father is a hard worker that provides for them and this gives him human qualities. He does this because he loves his father no matter what altercation comes about. For example, the speaker ends the poem by describing how he is put to bed: “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke, 15-16). Instead of running away in fear, he is holding on to his

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

“You beat time on my head, With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed, Still clinging to your shirt” (Lines 13-16). The line, “You beat time in my head,” (Line 13), may be misunderstood to indicate physical violence. However, because the waltz begins in a slow rhythm that gradually, increases in tempo, the boy is dizzy and breathless, and yet happy, by its end. Although exhausted the narrator still desires to continue prancing around with the father. Given the opportunity, he would gladly experience his childhood memories exactly the same – bruises, cuts and all.

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