Response To My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
(My Papa’s Waltz) Response
The warm feeling of love and affection from a parent is supposed to be a cheerful experience, but in Theodore Roethke poem, love is battling fear. The narrator of this poem portrays over compassion from a drunken father who engages in a bizarre waltz, with his fearful child. The controversy of this abnormal experience from a father to his child is describes on the endurance of the child throughout the poem of painful dancing that ended with mix emotion. The allegory in this poem is deep with hidden meaning on how to deal with abuse from a love one. The love for a parent or a sibling is a hard burden to endure when abuse comes into a situation causing fear and despair.
The simple gesture of a dancing is one way to win a child over with bonding emotions, but to forcefully pull or drag a person is abuse. The opening of the poem begins at a high risk factor of child endangerment with the smell of alcohol coming from the father's breath. Some assumption in the poem is that this encounter of drunken behavior of the father is not the first time this acquired or the last. This assumption comes from the
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In the case of the drunken father, who feels rambunctious enough to enter the home and engage in an inappropriate manner of dancing, that leads to a physical abuse of a child in his home. The meaning of love is deep in this poem for a child to hold on even when face with fear never gave up on an abuse full father. The undeniable fact, in this poem is that a person who suffering from alcoholism needs to wake up and realize the negative effect he is causing his family with his addiction. There is an old saying that time can heal wounds, but memories are a thing that can destroy families forever. The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is design to open the mind and heart of those suffering from negative love and repair what is missing before it is too
Why Does Theodore Roethke Use Ambiguous Language
119 Words | 1 PagesIn “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
My Papas Waltz Analysis
657 Words | 3 PagesThe imagery of “My Papas Waltz” can clearly be understood as a father waltzing with his son in the kitchen, tapping the beat too his son’s head, and his ear scraping his buckle against his child’s ear. The poem is playful when the poem says, “At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke lines 11-12).
Domestic Violence In My Papa Waltz
475 Words | 2 PagesThe poem My Papa Waltz by the title sounds like it could be sweet and loving. The poem is actually very dark in my opinion. In the poem the father is drunk, stumbling and hurting the boy. Even though they could just be having a good time, running around, and the father could also be trying to teach the boy to grow up, I believe that the poem is about a boy being abused by his father. Because he also states that the father is so drunk that his breath could get a small boy drunk.
Comparing Poems My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays
691 Words | 3 PagesEveryone has a father, whether their relationship with him is good or bad. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word father as follows: a man in relation to his natural child or children. “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are two poems with themes set around a father. These poems deal with accounts of the poets’ fathers as they reminisce about certain scenes from their childhood. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” show similarities and differences in structure, literary elements, and central idea.
Analyzing Sharon Olds 'Poem The Victims'
478 Words | 2 PagesThe beginning part of the poem, the speaker recollects the mental punishment and abuse that the family has received from their father. Olds uses realistic imagery to show the amount of violence that they have endured such as “She took it and took it, in silence, all those years and then kicked you out, suddenly, and her kids loved it.” This shows how after all of the mental abuse they have faced, they are fighting back by showing happiness of the presence of the father who was in their homes in their minds. The imagery sets a tone of fear that they once faced and then reclaiming their power by forcing the abuser out of the home.
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.
Morning Praise Of Nightmares One Poem Summary
1324 Words | 6 PagesFrom the title of the poem it can be analyzed that mornings which are a sign of beginning of a new day begins with discussion of nightmares. The word ‘nightmares’ is sensed to be used to express pain
Connotation In My Papa's Waltz
902 Words | 4 PagesThe relationship between father and son is one that is both sacred, yet complex as each side of the relationship faces hardships. This relationship between a son and his role model, a father and his child, is one, has its ups, but one must also know it has downs. In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke’s use of ambiguity through diction allows room for the audience to interpret the text in a positive or a negative way, representing the relationship between a father and a son, which on the outside can be interpreted in an either positive or a negative way. Roethke’s use of diction creates an element of confusion for the audience of his poem.
My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays
683 Words | 3 PagesEvery 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
Compare And Contrast Sylvia Plath And My Papa's Waltz
846 Words | 4 PagesComparing and contrasting Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, one finds the two poems are similar with their themes of abuse, yet contrasting with how the themes are portrayed. Furthermore, the speaker 's feelings toward their fathers’ in each poem contrast. One speaker was hurt by the father and the other speaker was indifferent about how he was treated by his father. The fathers’ feelings toward the children are also different despite how each treated the child. Both poems accurately portray the parent-child relationships within an abusive home, even if they have different
My Papa's Waltz Devices Analysis
563 Words | 3 PagesAlthough “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
Compare And Contrast My Papa's Waltz
596 Words | 3 PagesMy 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
Analysis Of My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke
764 Words | 4 PagesIn the final analysis, most readers of this poem tend to deduce a dark theme of physical violence due to its tone, word choice and imagery. Nonetherless, Roethke balances positive and negative tones of the poem to give it a rich and ambiguous quality. The exceeding tendency to paint the picture of child abuse deprives it, of this quality. “My Papa’s Waltz,” illustrates a special and powerful moment, shared between a father and a son through a waltz.
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 In My Papa's Waltz
898 Words | 4 PagesThe first two lines of the poem paint a picture that play to our sense of smell, “The whiskey on your breath. Could make a small boy dizzy.” (1-2) His father is obviously inebriated past
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