Upon reading Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” one would think the poem entirely talks about the dance and how it was special and memorable to the speaker just by the title. However‚ this ‘waltz’ is interpreted many different ways in the poem. The poem starts off describing the speaker’s presumed father’s smell of “whiskey on your breath” to show that he was drinking heavily (Roethke 1). This smell can also be described as quite strong because of the fact that it “could make a small boy dizzy” (2). This
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Love or Abuse? That is the Question Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” tells the reader of a small boy’s memory of his father. It explains how his father is intoxicated and the scene that goes along with it. Roethke’s style in this poem leaves the reader with the task of determining if he speaks of abuse or a happy reminiscence. Critics describe it as being a “mixture of tenderness and brutality” (Malkoff). In the first two lines‚ he recounts the smell of his father’s breath. Roethke’s use
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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. There is a lot of imagery in this poem. There are descriptions like‚ “we romped around until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf. There is imagery in every stanza. Roethke uses great word choice too. It is imperative
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BEN & JERRY’S Ben (Ben Cohen) & Jerry’s (Jerry Greenfield) is an American ice cream company‚ a division of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate‚ that manufactures ice cream‚ frozen yogurt‚ sorbet‚ and ice cream novelty products. These are manufactured by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings‚ It is best known as a premium ice cream brand‚ founded in 1978 in Burlington‚ Vermont. HISTORY Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends from New York . On May 5‚ 1978‚ with a $5 correspondence
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My Papa’s Waltz Reading this poem brings back memories from my early child. I remember being ten or eleven and going to daddy daughter dances at the community center. When they discuss the Whiskey on his breath‚ I remember smelling the grease on my father. He was never one to drink‚ which is something I find very respectable; but he worked in a GM factory so he smelled often smelled of grease. This became a comforting smell since as a child I always associate with my father. Dancing at these dances
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My Papa’s Waltz I believe I am living a good life. My parents love me and provide me with all the things my heart desires‚ so creating a connection with the child in the poem‚ “My Papa’s Waltz‚” seemed as an impossible task. Yet‚ I have made a startling discovery with the child in the poem‚ and that is the way he and I both downplay the horrors in our lives. The boy in this poem is receiving scars from his father whose senses are muddled up to the point that he isn’t even in this world‚ though
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Although both Robert Hayden’s poem “The Whipping” and Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” both speak about abuse‚ they have very different tones. Hayden’s poem carries a tone of anger directed towards abusers. On the other hand‚ Roethke’s poem has a tone of pity for the abused. This difference can be accounted for by the narrator’s differing attitudes towards the abuse. The narrator in “The Whipping” is tormented by the memories of abuse. The memories bring him only pain and fear. He mentions
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Any interpretation of “My Papa’s Waltz” has to take into account the complexity of the speaker’s feelings that are brought about by his father’s waltz. A dance should bring two people closer together. The dance in this poem acts that way‚ yet the darker side of this waltz‚ which is a powerfully unsettling emotion under the surface of this poem‚ dominates the mood‚ and the love and intimacy of the dance do not make a strong impression on the reader. Theodore Roethke manipulates our emotional response
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My Papa’s Waltz The poem my papa’s waltz my Theodore Roethke is a famous 20th century American poet. His poems are typically woven with lots of imagery and have intricate rhyme schemes. This poem is about a young boys intimate relationship with his father. I think the poet is the speaker of the poem and he’s sharing his own experience with the readers through his poem. The first stanza is all about how his drunken father has just returned home after a long hard day of work. He is in the mood
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"My Papa’s Waltz" is one of most popular contemporary poems written by Theodore Roethke. The poem was first published in 1942 by Heast Magazines‚ Inc. from The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. It is a poem about a boy recalling a time with his father while they share a dance of waltz. This poem consists of four quatrains written in iambic trimeter with a simple rhyme scheme. It uses imagery‚ metaphors‚ and simile to invoke a strong impression. Each image captures an emotional richness all told
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