My Papas Waltz Analysis
Gabriella Cerqua
Analyze Poem Story
My Papa’s Waltz
The style and purpose of dancing has changed throughout the years of existence. From culture to culture, dancing is passed through generations as another form of communicating. Dancing has been used as a healing method throughout Europe, and in the 1900’s people would attend balls as a social gathering and use dancing as a way to court someone; yet today as a form of artistic talent people dance to express emotions and feelings. Tied in Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father and the son waltzing in the kitchen symbolize the powerful relationship between each other, and the abusive themes Roethke use to express the boys childhood and his as well. In the first stanza, there is a strong image the reader visions as the young boy smells his father’s whiskey breath and how the boy becomes faint. There is closeness between the father and the son, and there is a loving relationship that they share. The line “But I hung on like death, such waltzing was not easy” shows that the young boy hung on to his father, fearing of being disconnected from his father physically and emotionally. Even though the father is drunk, he still asserts his authority over the young boy by leading the dance. Although there isn’t a major theme revealed yet, there is a minor comical tone Roethke uses to describe how the young boy can pass out from smelling his father’s breathe. Continuing into the second stanza, the young boy and his father make their way through the kitchen where the mother is introduced. Her presence is known, yet the reader can infer that she doesn’t play a big part in the boy’s life as she stands on the side with a frown while the father and son waltz in the kitchen knocking down pans.
As Roethke leads the reader into the third stanza, the reader grasps a clear understanding of the abusive relationship between the father and the son. As a consequence of the fathers’ drunken state, the
Analyze Poem Story
My Papa’s Waltz
The style and purpose of dancing has changed throughout the years of existence. From culture to culture, dancing is passed through generations as another form of communicating. Dancing has been used as a healing method throughout Europe, and in the 1900’s people would attend balls as a social gathering and use dancing as a way to court someone; yet today as a form of artistic talent people dance to express emotions and feelings. Tied in Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father and the son waltzing in the kitchen symbolize the powerful relationship between each other, and the abusive themes Roethke use to express the boys childhood and his as well. In the first stanza, there is a strong image the reader visions as the young boy smells his father’s whiskey breath and how the boy becomes faint. There is closeness between the father and the son, and there is a loving relationship that they share. The line “But I hung on like death, such waltzing was not easy” shows that the young boy hung on to his father, fearing of being disconnected from his father physically and emotionally. Even though the father is drunk, he still asserts his authority over the young boy by leading the dance. Although there isn’t a major theme revealed yet, there is a minor comical tone Roethke uses to describe how the young boy can pass out from smelling his father’s breathe. Continuing into the second stanza, the young boy and his father make their way through the kitchen where the mother is introduced. Her presence is known, yet the reader can infer that she doesn’t play a big part in the boy’s life as she stands on the side with a frown while the father and son waltz in the kitchen knocking down pans.
As Roethke leads the reader into the third stanza, the reader grasps a clear understanding of the abusive relationship between the father and the son. As a consequence of the fathers’ drunken state, the