Comparing Poems 'Rush Hour And My Papa's Waltz'
The Use of Imagery in “Rush Hour” and “My Papa’s Waltz”
Gregory S. Holland ENG 113-82 May 2, 2013 Mrs. Urban Poetry Project
In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Elaine Terranova’s “Rush Hour” the authors use imagery to express their themes. Imagery is often used in poetry to evoke emotions and to help the reader see the words with their senses. In both poems, Roethke and Terranova use imagery to convey a child’s perception of a parent or adult. Both authors also use imagery to demonstrate the theme of dysfunctional families and how the family members are affected by this dysfunction. Finally, the authors use imagery in both “Rush Hour” and” My Papa’s Waltz” to develop …show more content…
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke also uses imagery to show a dysfunctional family but a different type of dysfunction. The author states “I hung on like death; such waltzing was not easy, and again when he notices that his father has been drinking and has “whiskey on his breath” (l. 1-4). The child does not like the nightly dance ritual but wants to please his father. Roethke shows how regardless of the circumstances of the father being drunk, the child still loves and adores him and at bedtime the child is “still clinging to your shirt” (l.16). This is the child’s way of coping with the dysfunction. In Terranova’s “Rush Hour,” there are many references that give us a picture of a family that is dysfunctional. When she states “the baby’s scabbed face peeking over the woman’s shoulder” and “the little girl at her side with her arm in a cast” this gives us a picture of children who are undergoing some sort of abuse at home (l. 1-3). Terranova notes that the young girl’s behavior is not that of a normal little girl with her mother. When the kind man and the conductor make inquiries about the children’s injuries the mother is quick to speak for her children and defend the “dog” who supposedly injured the baby (l. 20). She pleads, “It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it” (l. 22). We can tell that she is really defending the father because she is afraid …show more content…
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke shows rough behavior on the part of the father when he says “the hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” (l. 9-10). The battered knuckle seems to be an extreme description of a knuckle and implies rough behavior. The boy indicates that his father frequently waltzed him around rather roughly before he took him to his bed each night. We get the image of a child who loves his father but is perhaps a little wary of him when he is drinking. He notes “at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle,” which indicates the father was drinking and not aware of how rough he was with his son (l.11-12). Terranova in “Rush Hour,” uses the imagery of rough or violent behavior in many of the lines when she describes the condition of the children such as a “scabbed face” in the baby and the little girl with “her arm in a cast” (l. 1-3). The imagery of the mother in dark glasses is a more subtle reference to the violence of the father because the author states, “no one has seen what is behind her own dark glasses” which indicates that the father uses violent behavior not just with the children, but with the mother too (l. 27-28). The mother indicates violence when she says “It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it,” which gives us a picture of a father who has a tendency toward violence with all the family members (l.
Gregory S. Holland ENG 113-82 May 2, 2013 Mrs. Urban Poetry Project
In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Elaine Terranova’s “Rush Hour” the authors use imagery to express their themes. Imagery is often used in poetry to evoke emotions and to help the reader see the words with their senses. In both poems, Roethke and Terranova use imagery to convey a child’s perception of a parent or adult. Both authors also use imagery to demonstrate the theme of dysfunctional families and how the family members are affected by this dysfunction. Finally, the authors use imagery in both “Rush Hour” and” My Papa’s Waltz” to develop …show more content…
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke also uses imagery to show a dysfunctional family but a different type of dysfunction. The author states “I hung on like death; such waltzing was not easy, and again when he notices that his father has been drinking and has “whiskey on his breath” (l. 1-4). The child does not like the nightly dance ritual but wants to please his father. Roethke shows how regardless of the circumstances of the father being drunk, the child still loves and adores him and at bedtime the child is “still clinging to your shirt” (l.16). This is the child’s way of coping with the dysfunction. In Terranova’s “Rush Hour,” there are many references that give us a picture of a family that is dysfunctional. When she states “the baby’s scabbed face peeking over the woman’s shoulder” and “the little girl at her side with her arm in a cast” this gives us a picture of children who are undergoing some sort of abuse at home (l. 1-3). Terranova notes that the young girl’s behavior is not that of a normal little girl with her mother. When the kind man and the conductor make inquiries about the children’s injuries the mother is quick to speak for her children and defend the “dog” who supposedly injured the baby (l. 20). She pleads, “It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it” (l. 22). We can tell that she is really defending the father because she is afraid …show more content…
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke shows rough behavior on the part of the father when he says “the hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” (l. 9-10). The battered knuckle seems to be an extreme description of a knuckle and implies rough behavior. The boy indicates that his father frequently waltzed him around rather roughly before he took him to his bed each night. We get the image of a child who loves his father but is perhaps a little wary of him when he is drinking. He notes “at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle,” which indicates the father was drinking and not aware of how rough he was with his son (l.11-12). Terranova in “Rush Hour,” uses the imagery of rough or violent behavior in many of the lines when she describes the condition of the children such as a “scabbed face” in the baby and the little girl with “her arm in a cast” (l. 1-3). The imagery of the mother in dark glasses is a more subtle reference to the violence of the father because the author states, “no one has seen what is behind her own dark glasses” which indicates that the father uses violent behavior not just with the children, but with the mother too (l. 27-28). The mother indicates violence when she says “It was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it,” which gives us a picture of a father who has a tendency toward violence with all the family members (l.