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Analyze my papa's waltz
My papa's waltz analysis
My papa's waltz by theodore roethke analysis
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Both poems “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are poems in which the speaker (a son in both cases) attempts to explain his complex relationship with his father. It seems that the two poets are reflecting back in their early lives as young boys and showing different appreciation toward their father. In my interpretation “My Papa’s Waltz” is about a boy and that is excited that his father got home to play with him. Only problem is the speakers father is drunk and it hard to enjoy himself but he held on because the unconditional love he has for him, as the line says “The Whiskey on your breath / could make a boy dizzy; / But I hung like death: ” (1-2-3). However, “Those Winter Sundays” is more about a boy that really didn’t appreciate his father’s tough love and hard work to kept heat in the house as the third stanza said “what did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (13-14). Both of the poems deal with a father and a son with the same setting just one can be more negative than the other further more give you different judgment and have different attitudes.
In “My Papa’s Waltz” the whole scenario is happening in the speaker’s house. When the boy’s father comes in the house drunk, he plays with him roughly through out the house, which, I believe is very inappropriate since he is “small boy” (2). As they continue playing they enter the kitchen energetically and dropping pans from the shelf. As the father “waltzed” him to bed, the boy sounds like he is the one that is holding the father from falling while his father looses balance he gets hurt with his belt buckle, since he is a small boy. Shown here “At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle” ...
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...istent with working hard and keeping the cold outside and not in his home. Looking back the poets realized that for the father to work so hard and a lot he loved them unconditionally. I like when he realizes because he said “What did I know, what did I know” (13).
All in all both of the poems are amazing realization of the past with their father’s relationships and reflecting on some positive or negative moments in their lives. While on poet thought he had a good dad when he was young he looks back and analyze that his father used to play with him when he was drunk and basically was the one holding him through his unbalance moment. When it should have been the other way around. Although in “Those winter Sundays” the boy didn’t care about his father hardship work and showed no type of appreciation, realizes that he was an exceptional father that had a lot to give.
“Those Winter Sundays” tells of Robert Hayden’s father and the cold mornings his father endures to keep his family warm in the winters. In “Digging” Heaney is sitting in the window watching his father do hard manual labor, which has taken a toll on his body. In “My Father as a Guitar” Espada goes to the doctors office with his father and is sitting in the office with his dad when the doctor tells him he has to take pain killers and to stop working because his body was growing old and weak. The authors of the poems all look at their fathers the same; they look at them with much respect and gratitude. All three poems tell of the hard work the dads have to do to keep their family fed and clothed. “The landlord, here a symbol of all the mainstream social institutions that hold authority over the working class” (Constantakis.) Espada’s father is growing old and his health is deteriorating quickly but his ability to stop working is not in his own hands, “I can’t the landlord won’t let me” (774.) “He is separated from the homeland, and his life in the United States is far from welcoming” (Constantakis.) Espada’s Grandmother dies in Puerto Rico and the family learns this by a lett...
In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. Some people assume that this poem is about a happy relationship between a father and son while other people assume that this poem emphasizes hidden messages of parental abuse. In my
...nts a man looking back on his childhood with love and longing admiration. Both poet's have used their childhood experiences to create a window into their past, reviewing a piece of their lives, to move forward with their bold futures.
"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden is a poem about a how the author is recalling how his father would wake up early on Sundays, a day which is usually a reserved as a day of rest by many, to fix a fire for his family. The mood of this poem is a bit sad. It portrays a father, who deeply cares for his family but doesn't seem to show it by emotions, words, or touching. It also describes a home that isn't very warm in feelings as well as the title" Those Winter Sundays" The author describes the father as being a hard worker, in the line "…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday…", but still even on Sundays--the day of rest, the father works at home to make sure the house is warm for his family. The "blueblack cold described in the poem is now warmed by a father's love. This poem describes the author reminiscing what did not seem obvious at the time, the great love of his father, and the author's regretting to thank his father for all that he did.
If the narrator simply intended to reflect a warm commemoration, he could have used a strand of words that implied happiness or comfort. The author was clearly aware that at first glance, readers typically assume the poem is about an abusive relationship; nevertheless, he neglected to alter his poem, demonstrating the idea that negative memories of the father do exist. The father in “My Papa’s Waltz” is portrayed by the narrator as one who neglects his responsibilities of ensuring safety and being a positive role model. Using many examples and implying this through writing techniques, the narrator represents the father in a way other than a loving dad.
Both poems are set in the past, and both fathers are manual labourers, which the poets admired as a child. Both poems indicate intense change in their fathers lives, that affected the poet in a drastic way. Role reversal between father and son is evident, and a change of emotion is present. These are some of the re-occurring themes in both poems. Both poems in effect deal with the loss of a loved one; whether it be physically or mentally.
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
The lack of verbal communication between his father and himself can be seen in his poem "Those Winter Sundays." The overall impression of the poem is that love can be communicated in other ways than through words; it can be communicated through everyday, mundane actions. For example, in the poem, the father awakens on "Sundays too" to warm the house with a fire and polish his sons shoes. There is a sense of coldness in the beginning of the poem through the lines:
Family bonds are very important which can determine the ability for a family to get along. They can be between a mother and son, a father and son, or even a whole entire family itself. To some people anything can happen between them and their family relationship and they will get over it, but to others they may hold resentment. Throughout the poems Those Winter Sundays, My Papa’s Waltz, and The Ballad of Birmingham family bonds are tested greatly. In Those Winter Sundays the relationship being shown is between the father and son, with the way the son treats his father. My Papa’s Waltz shows the relationship between a father and son as well, but the son is being beaten by his father. In The Ballad of Birmingham the relationship shown is between
My Papa’s Waltz has been compared to a generational litmus test. Depending on what generation the reader was born, could determine how the reader would interpret this poem. Each generation has its own views that have been developed in them for the language used to describe Papa in this poem. The whiskey on his breath and Papa’s hand beating on his head, both sound like a negative connotation. Depending on the experience of the reader, they can either be disturbed by these words or be drawn in closer to the poem. Theodore Roethke loved his father. Not only did he love him, but he idolized him and unfortunately lost him at an early age. This poem is a reflective memorial waltz written in iambic trimeter to honor his father and mother.
While most of us think back to memories of our childhood and our relationships with our parents, we all have what he would call defining moments in our views of motherhood or fatherhood. It is clearly evident that both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have much to say about the roles of fathers in their two poems as well. While the relationships with their fathers differ somewhat, both men are thinking back to a defining moment in their childhood and remembering it with a poem. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" both give the reader a snapshot view of one defining moment in their childhood, and these moments speak about the way these children view their fathers. Told now years later, they understand even more about these moments.
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a poem that illustrates the love and bonding between a father and child through structure, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and diction. The poem begins with lines making it seem negative, violent, and maybe even hate. However it was really his use of figurative language to show them bonding and having fun. In the first quatrain it says the father has whiskey breath, enough to make a child dizzy, so the child hangs on like “death”, because it was hard for him to waltz. At a first glance this may seem negative because of the whiskey and the author's choice of words like death. Although it is not negative. The father may have had a whiskey breath but it doesn't state he was drunk, and him hanging on like death may sound horrific, but he has to hold on to him so he is inescapable as death because it is
“Those Winter Sundays” had a sad and sorrowful tone to it as compared with “Begotten” which has a more pleasant and upbeat tone. One of the reasons why I chose to look at poems in the family album was because of how diverse every poem was going to be. Just like in real life, everyone has a different life story due to their families. Family life is an important part of life and I liked how the speaker of the poem was able to reflect back on his childhood after had grown up. Both of these poems were about child-father relationship, but family all together. It is easy to take your parents for granite, but when you grow up you start to realize how grateful you are for all they have done for you. Just because these two poems had two different tones did not make one better than the other, they were both equally powerful in their
Each of these poems is written in different form and with different style. Each form represents the time period of my life I am representing. “Daddy’s Girl” was inspired by “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. The two share the perspective of a young child desiring a close relationship with their fathers, due to their lack of involvement. “Daddy’s Girl,” is structured in three stanzas, each representing a different part of the scenario. The first stanza offers my desire to spend time with my dad. The parenthetical statement that “(I don’t actually like baseball)” (l. 2) shows that the activity I desired had nothing to do with the activity and everything to do with him. The second stanza is more in line with the time spent at the ballpark. My father always worked, but I didn’t mind as long as I got to be with him. My comment that, “Mr. Heller seems nice” (l. 8) relayed a desire to converse with my father about things he was interested in. I didn’t have the mental capacity to talk about the actual work, so the business partners involved would have to suffice. The third stanza displays the ever present fact that my father would leave, and I had to cope with that. I would take every opportunity I had to spend time with him. Furthermore the short stanzas and
The three poems acknowledge the fathers; however, the poems are different in their mood. The mood of Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” is exciting. The poem is a childhood memory of Roethke’s father whirling him around the kitchen. The poet describes how the poet feels, as his father whirls him around. Roethke wrote, “breath and death,” “dizzy and easy.” (“Papa” 1-4) The reader imagines the father whirling the boy around, and the boy holding on tight to his father. The poet wrote, “We romped until the pans/slid from the kitchen shelf.” (“Papa” 5-6) and “My mother’s countenance/Could not unfrown itself.” (“Papa” 7-8) The mother appears to dislike the whirling around in the kitchen, but the poet uses the word “romp,” which indicates it was playful and fun. The rhyme gives the reader the choice of interpreting the poem with a favorable or unfavorable meaning. I believe the poet’s childhood memory demonstrates the father’s attention and love for his son.