My Papa's Waltz Tone
The poem My Papa’s Waltz describes a child’s nostalgia towards his conflicted relationship with his father.
In this poem the tone of the speaker is characterized by the deep devotion and love he felt towards his father during his youth. Looking back on the time his father spent playing with him when he was a child, the speaker describes “[hanging] on like death” and “clinging to [his] shirt” (Roethke 3,16). These childlike descriptions show that the speaker felt a deep devotion to his father and had a loving relationship with him. The terms “hanging on” and “clinging” both signify the tone of loving dependence of child to father. This reliance on his father developed by the theme gives way to a deeper understanding of the son, and how no matter
In this poem the tone of the speaker is characterized by the deep devotion and love he felt towards his father during his youth. Looking back on the time his father spent playing with him when he was a child, the speaker describes “[hanging] on like death” and “clinging to [his] shirt” (Roethke 3,16). These childlike descriptions show that the speaker felt a deep devotion to his father and had a loving relationship with him. The terms “hanging on” and “clinging” both signify the tone of loving dependence of child to father. This reliance on his father developed by the theme gives way to a deeper understanding of the son, and how no matter