In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz, Theodore Roethke talks about a young boy’s relationship with his father. I think that the poem talks about how the young boy loves his father but their relationship is strained. I also think that the young boy fears that his father will drink himself to death.…
His poem "My Papa's Waltz" is a very emotionally stimulating poem. Roethke’s use of ethos in this poem helps establish his creditability. He writes the poem from a first-hand perspective, recounting some very vivid memories from a night with his father. With his use of pathos and ambiguity usually leaves the interpretation of the poem up to the reader. Some people may consider this poem to describe an abusive relationship between a young boy and his father. On the contrary, some believe this poem reflects on fond memories between a father and son.…
In “My Papa’s Waltz’ by Theodore Roethke, the speaker’s tone towards his father is one that is loving and admiring. This is seen in the word choice of the speaker when interacting with his father.…
“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem written by Theodore Roethke. In which it is written about a father and son who are dancing together before bedtime. The story can be interpreted as having two sides behind it. One being a more joyful scenario which is the interaction between a father who is playing with his child and encounters a few rough moments such as when Roethke said “My right ear scraped a buckle” which shows how the boy is short and standing up he is only up to his father’s waist causing his “right ear to scrape a buckle.” On the other half it seems like the boy is being tortured or beaten by the father. Throughout the text it shows the boy and father having a bad encounter with each other and the mother not being able to say anything, but when looking at it closely the reason it comes off as an abusive poem is because of the words being chosen by Roethke. It seems like the boy is being…
"Inside is where the son and father will always be holding hands"(Adam Johnson). All children one way or another have a special bond between them and their father. But, a father and son form an unbreakable bond. It's natural for a father to groom his son and teach him things he himself faced when he was once young. The poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke entails a memory of a small boy and father perceived to be having a good time and having a good time and dancing despite the father being drunk. “My Papa’s Waltz” is a positive childhood experience because the drunk father made time for his son, the father worked hard to provide for his family and the small boy loved his father unconditionally.…
In the poem “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Connor they both share some similarities. Both the story and the poem illustrate topics such as family, innocence and selfishness.…
In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke uses many connotations and detail that could be understood as positive or negative, but in my eyes, the word choice and intense details seem indicate a more sullen tone and a more abusive behavior towards the speaker. This poem is about a father and a son “waltzing” in their kitchen with their mother watching. Roethke does use a few words such as clinging and romped that could indicate a playful dance and a child clinging to their loving father not wanting to go to bed; however, there is more predominant language that shows an abusive father. The author first indicates that the whiskey on the father’s breath could make the son dizzy. This shows that the father has been drinking a large amount…
Theodore Roethke writes about a loving relationship between a father and his son in the poem “My Papa Waltz”. Their relation is so close and loving even though the father is alcoholic “the whiskey in your breath could make a boy dizzy.” He hung’s on to the dance with him and they dance through the kitchen making a mess and the son knows his mother will disapprove of it “my mother’s countenance could not inform itself.” The father waltzes his son to bed but he still insists on his shirt and this proves his love for his dad despite his shortcomings.…
If we look closely, there is a deeper, more loving tone in the speaker's voice for his father. We can tell by looking at the vocabulary and syntax used in the poem. Referring to his father as "Papa" automatically gives away that the boy still loves father because papa was an affectionate term used by innocent young boys at the time. The boy also uses terms like waltzing, romped, slid, and clinging to suggest the situation was more playful than violent. For example, Roethke could have said that the pans fell or dropped from the kitchen shelf but he went with slid to make the effects of the scene less drastic. Another example would be "the hand that held my wrist". If the Roethke truly intended for it to be abusive, much stronger language would have been chosen over held. In fact, one could argue that this ritual between the father and the speaker is routine seeing as the mother was doing nothing to prevent any harm from coming to her son. She was quite possibly only frowning because of the big mess in the kitchen. My theory would be is that the boy is stuck at home all day with no father because he as hard at work all day, hence the rough and "battered" hands. The father comes home and immediately unwinds by having a few whiskey drinks. Therefore the only fun and interaction the speaker can have with his father is this troublesome, playful waltz about going to bed on time. Roethke desires to be with…
In Theodore Roethke’s poem, My Papa’s Waltz, there seems to be a bit of controversy about what actions are taking place within it. From the title, it appears that the father and child were dancing, seeing as a waltz is a type of dance. But this is no dance. While waltzing, one person leads while the other follows. The father is the leader in this situation, showing dominance over his child. This “waltz” is simply something that the father does often. The narrator is the child. The vague and patchy description of the actions taking place would indicate that this is but a memory the narrator is trying to recall about his childhood. The poem, when read over quickly and lazily, may appear to be about this dance,…
The first verse of the third stanza - ‘His Polish friends -’ again shows a sense of ownership and belonging by the use of possessive pro noun. It also states a cultural reference and shows how the son feels as if he doesn’t belong. ‘Talking, they reminisced…’ this line reflects how this group of men hold a shared past and highlights the sense of ‘brotherhood’. All of this ‘Did not dull the softness of his blue eyes’, which again signifies the love and admiration the son possesses for his father. Mild and subtle expression is used to symbolise his character through the depiction of his son. Even when…
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke portrays a father-son relationship that proves to be often brutal. The author uses enjambment within the poem to show the negative effects after actions; along with the metaphors describing the father and the beatings. For example, the boy would feel how “his right ear scraped a buckle” to the failures “at every step ‘you’ missed”. However, deep down in his heart, the boy loves his father. He describes him as a poor man whose “hand...was battered on one knuckle”. The hand was also “caked hard by dirt”, showing how he was hardworking enough to deserve pity.…
The anger that the father feels due to his unfortunate circumstances is prevalent throughout the poem and it leads to a strain on the relationship with the speaker as a child. The troubled economy resulted in the father losing his job; the speaker tells us that it was after this occurred that he…
In a different light, everything in this poem is much more innocent than what the modern reader may think is implied. In the first stanza, the whiskey breath is not directly connected to alchoholism. In fact, alcoholism was not a common word that was used in 1942. It was extremely common for a man to come home from a hard day of work and have a strong liquor drink to relax. It still is in some families and cultures today. Roethke adds in the poem that the mother's expression was not pleasent, which tells the reader that maybe dad had a little too much with dinner (I hate that look!). If he was doing something horribly wrong, theres no doubt that mom would be doing something more than scowling in the…
In the poem “My Papa Waltz” Written by Theodore Roethke, a young child is running around the house following and playing with the drunkard of a dad. The child can smell the whiskey on his breath but continues to cling tightly as the child does not want to stop playing. This scuffling shakes and rattles the pans in the kitchen frustrating the mom as she is annoyed with her drunk of a husband. Bedtime has approached so the child is then carried to bed still clinging to the fathers’ shirt. Roethke uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to portray how forgiving a child’s love can be.…