Ultimately, Roethke’s use of negative diction influences one to believe that his poem tells the story of his abusive father. With the use of negative diction, the author is able to create a woeful and melancholy tone that paints multiple eerie images. After carefully analyzing the poem, one can conclude that the author tells his traumatic experience with his abusive father; Roethke is “beat” on his “head,” his “right ear scrape[s] a buckle,” and he “rompe[s]” to the point that pans begin falling. The author shares his experience as a dreadful memory, not a joyful dance with his father. Roethke uses negative diction such as “romped,” “death,” “whiskey,” “beat,” “scraped,” and “battered.” All these words have a negative connotation that illuminates
In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.
The mood established by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," plays a crucial role in conveying to the reader his underlying theme. For example, when Montresor, the narrator, st...
Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.
The author somewhat implicates feelings of resentment fused with a loving reliance with his father. For example, the first two lines of the poem read: "The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy;" (Roethke 668). This excerpt appears to set a dark sort of mood for the entire rest of the poem. By the first two lines, the reader may already see how this man feels about his father's drunkenness. It seems as if Roethke has preceded his poem with this factor in order to demonstrate the resentment that he feels toward his father.
Verbiage such as the mower “chewed” off the leg of the toad brings about a gruesome personified image of a neutrally helpful machine. A creative twist on a verb, “sanctuaried,” demonstrates the realization of the toad’s fate; which coupled with words such as “cineraria,” “ashen” and “final,” this conveys the deathly atmosphere. Ultimatley, realizing that any and all blood, despite it being inanimate, the speaker watches the “rare original bloodshed” flow out; he now sees the importance and uniqueness of blood. The adjectives used in stanza two, “wizenings,” “banked,” and “staring” all demonstrate how the speaker is analyzing the death of the toad. A sense of empathy for the toad is drawn out of the reader in a collective morning over the lose of this life from a brutal accident. Ergo, the main reason for employing such diction and syntax, is that the speaker sees the toad as a precious life, no more important than any other intelligent
Diction is used through out the poem Execution to effectively portray the Coach's character through out the story and the battle he is fighting with cancer. In the story the game of football was used with an extended symbolic meaning representing the game of life. At the beginning of the story Hirsch used phrases...
During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.
There is more that reveals what Roethke is trying to say. Roethke writes, “The summer house shaped like a village band stand/–And grandfather’s sinister hovering hand.” (2.3,2.4). Roethke starts again by describing the house and things in it. And once again the reader gets hit with these thoughts. He uses a simile to describe the house as a village bandstand. A house that is alone and one of those places you go to getaway. The more important thing is that he uses a metaphor to say “-And grandfather’s sinister hovering hand.” He remembers that about the house. This is where the reader gets the thought that his grandfather was an abusive man. Roethke remembers that sinister hovering hand right before he was physically hurt. Like he is looking at the house and he is seeing the hand, because he was scarred with these memories.
The poet conveys his attitude toward the character in a detached manner, seeing as the poem is not written in the perspective of the character or someone close to him. The speaker details the actions of the character in a sympathetic, respectful tone, but the choice of actions that the poet chooses to include seem to mock him. Perhaps most representative of this assertion is the choice to make the first word of both the novel and the poem “Cabbage,” immediately indicating that the novel the character has waited years to write will likely not be of good quality (1). Additionally, the poet uses the simile “a trophy pen, / like a trophy wife,” describing the pen that would play such an integral role in writing the novel with a negative connotation (2-3). The repetition of the phrase “not cheap” suggests that the extensive amount of resources the character has invested in the creation of his novel may have simply been a waste. Additionally, the detail that the character “dreamed in free moments at his office” and “excitingly” began writing is undercut by the first word being “cabbage” (17-21). In the event that the first word was more mellow, the tone of the poet would be very similar to that of the speaker. However, the choices in detail as well as the use of specific literary devices keep the tone of the poet and the tone of the speaker on two different
The speaker uses the literary technique of diction to show a contrast between the natural and material world in the poem. The “island of family folklore” provokes the feeling of mystery and heritage closely associated with the natural homeland of the speaker (2). The speaker also describes the Coca-Cola given to the boy as a “potion” that he drank in a “bored” fashion (3). Even though the speaker describes the Coca-Cola, a materialistic element, “potion” carries a frightening and scary connotation. This use of the dark diction de...
Upon reading Robert Hayden's 1970 poem, 'The Whipping'; (1075), one may find themselves feeling very disturbed. The title is not subtle in hiding the fact that the plot of the poem is of a mother beating her son. The tone of the poem is very violent, and filled with a lot of anger. The boy's character immediately demands sympathy from the reader and just as instantaneously, the mother is hated by the reader. From his first stanza, to his sixth, Hayden utilizes an arsenal of words, symbols, and images to create a scene that is intense and emotional to the reader.
Throughout the poem, the author uses various types of figurative language to immerse the reader in the thoughts and feeling of the speaker. The personification of fear in the form of Mr. Fear provides one such example.
The tragedy King Lear by William Shakespeare ought to be seen as a lesson on what not to do as a parent. By picking favorites, King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester leave a lasting impact on their children 's psyche, ultimately leading to them committing horrible crimes. The rash judgments, violent reactions, and blindness of both Lear and Gloucester lead to both their and their children 's demise. As a result, all of the father-child relationships in the play begin to collapse.
Many writers use powerful words to portray powerful messages. Whether a writer’s choice of diction is cheerful, bitter, or in Robert Hayden’s case in his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” dismal and painful, it is the diction that formulates the tone of the piece. It is the diction which Hayden so properly places that allows us to read the poem and picture the cold tension of his foster home, and envision the barren home where his poem’s inspiration comes from. Hayden’s tumultuous childhood, along with the unorthodox relationships with his biological parents and foster parents help him to create the strong diction that permeates the dismal tone of “Those Winter Sundays.” Hayden’s ability to both overcome his tribulations and generate enough courage
In Robert Browning‘s dramatic monologue, “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church,” the reader encounters a speaker who appears to be overtly conceited, object-oriented, and scornful. Due to the fact that the speaker is on his deathbed, the poem is written as one gigantic clump in blank verse, which allows the reader to infer that there is certain disarray in the speaker’s tone. His hasty speech is indicative of the numerous thoughts that are currently racing through his head during his final moments and it is evident that as these notions cascade out of his mind, they cloud his judgment and cause him to inadvertently reveal curious aspects about his character – aspects that are entirely antithetical to the expectations one would normally have for a bishop.