Analysis of the Poem My Papa´s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

593 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: My papa's waltz analysis

Drinking has and always will influence people, for the better or the worse. Alcohol clearly influenced Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz." In his poem, there are two main characters along with a largely anonymous third party. Theodore, an adolescent, dances with his drunken father while his birth mother watches apprehensively. The characters represent a past memory of Roethke's childhood.

In his recollection, Roethke's father comes home drunk after a hard day of work. The young boy and his father decide to partake in a little dance. While waltzing, the two get a little rambunctious with each other. As a result, some people view this poem with a disdainful-like perception and suppose Theodore wrote the poem with dark thoughts in mind. Rather, despite his father's drunkenness, the young Theodore enjoyed every second of it. There is a strong bond between them that upon careful examination, one can clearly understand in the poem "My Papa's Waltz."

In the poem, the act of 'waltzing' symbolizes love, though not without some strife. "Such waltzing was not easy" (Roethke pg 602, 4)....

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The major themes of the poem reflect the poet's own inner life and his struggle with the loss of his father. Through this complicated and intricate poem the inner feelings of the poet are made manifest through the speaker's tone towards the father. The exchange between father and son represents a magical moment in the speaker's childhood: dancing the waltz with his father. In the second stanza, the poet comments “My mother's countenance / could not unfrown itself (Roethke 7-8).” Here the poet seems to regret the fact that he hoarded his father's time after a long day at work, when his father could have been s...

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is obvious this is an evening ritual, one that is cherished. The boy is aware of his fathers’ waltzing abilities and he concedes that he is up for the challenge. The irony of the statement, “I hung on like death” (Roethke line 3) is a private one, yet deeply describes his yearning for one more waltz with his father who passed away when Theodore was only fifteen years

    Read More

  • Comparing My Last Duchess And Sonnet 130

    1796 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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

    Read More

  • Junot Diaz

    1565 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz and Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    Roethke’s and Hayden’s poems use tone in the same way to show that both children ultimately love their fathers regardless of the abuse he commits. The young boy in My Papa’s Waltz is clearly very fond of his father even though his Papa abuses him. It is through the tone the young boy uses that Roethke shows how much he loves his father. This is first enforced when the boy says, “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke, 3-4). The boy loves his father and he h...

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz Analysis Essay

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ultimately, the subject of “ My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “ My Papa’s Waltz” to illustrate on a past memory of his drunk and abusive father. The controversy of the poem itself is whether it is a good or bad memory. The use of negative imagery, syntax, and diction support this. Overall, with the explanation of the poem and the use of syntax, diction and imagery “ My Papa’s Waltz” was about Theodore Roethke’s drunk and abusive

    Read More

  • Imagery in My Papa’s Waltz

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Donald Hall describes the use of imagery in poetry as a device that "makes us more sensitive to [literature], as if we acquired eyes that could see through things"(p 530). Imagery creates vivid details that deal with one's sense of sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste. These details can be seen in Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" because the senses of touch, sight, sound, and smell appeal to the reader in order to better explain the feelings of each character in the poem. Roethke's use of imagery creates a negative picture that is painted by the son of an abusive father.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    This means that the poem contains unstressed followed by stressed syllables. In addition, each line contains three-stressed syllable, which makes it trimeter. For instance, “The whiskey on your breath” (1) can be used to identify the stressed syllables in that line. The syllable for “whisk”, “on” and “breath” are the three stressed syllable within that line of the poem. The use of an iambic trimeter allows the poem to become the waltz itself as it matches the three beats of the waltz. While this meter is used throughout the poem, there are certain lines that contain disruptions to the meter of this poem. For example, “slide from the kitchen shelf”(6) which is a trochaic. A trochee is a meter pattern that involves a stressed syllable flowed by an unstressed syllable. In this case, “slide” is a stressed syllable, while “from” is unstressed. These disruptions in meter mirror the father’s “missing steps” in line 11. This dance between the father and son is not smooth, but rather rough and clumsy due to the father’s drunkenness. Similarly, the first stanza also includes a simile, “But I hung on like death” (3), which portrays a sense of seriousness in tone of the speaker. In other words, there is a sense of play but also a sense of danger that characterizes the

    Read More

  • Theodore Roethke Poetry Analysis Essay

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading a story or a poem, readers tend to analyze, and develop their own opinions. Any content an author or poet produces is up to the reader to question, and identify what the story is trying to say. The point that I am stating is that, stories are like maps that we readers need to figure out. We have to find the starting point, and get to the destination of our conclusion, and the thoughts we have about the story or poem. In the stories that we have read so for throughout the semester, they all have different messages of what they are trying to convey to the reader in a way that can be relatable. Among all the author’s and poet’s works we have read, I have enjoyed Theodore Roethke’s poems. Roethke has developed poems that explore emotions that readers can relate to. I would like to explain and interpret the themes that Theodore Roethke expresses in the poems “My Papa’s Waltz”, “The Waking”, and “I Knew a Woman”.

    Read More

  • Roethkes Use of Tone

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    " Certainly, this small boy's family life has its frightening side, but the last line suggests the boy is still clinging to his father with persistent if also complicated love" (Kennedy and Gioia 668). Although their dance appears to be "comic", Roethke seems to possess "an odd and ambivalent closeness" to his apparently intoxicated father (Balakian 62). Still, even more evidence of these mixed feelings is illustrated in the third stanza. "This love dance, a kind of blood rite between father and son, shows suppressed terror combined with awe-inspired dependency" (Balakian 62).

    Read More

  • Analysis of My Papa's Waltz

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    This poem has a kept form. Even at a glance, it has a set form. It consists of four quatrains, each line being an iambic tritameter. The poem is about a young boy waltzing with his father. One can assume that the speaker is a young boy, or perhaps the poet reminiscing his youth. The father dances around in a haphazard manner, knocking over pans in the kitchen. Upon first glance, the tone is humorous. The picture one immediately forms is rather comical with the boy clinging on for dear life as his chuckling father spins him round and round, making a mess in the kitchen while the mother looks on discontentedly. However, the line, "whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy" suggests the father's drunkedness and "at every step you missed my right ear scraped buckle" suggests the dance was not an altogether joyful one. Lines such as "hung on like death", and "beat time on my head" are might even lead the reader to think the father is abusive of the boy.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late nineteen forties, Theodore Roethke emerged with a poem that has been the source of much debate. "My Papa's Waltz," is an account of a relationship between son and father. Alas, many readers who are exposed to this piece fail to note the love present in the connection of the characters. In an attempt to illuminate the author's true intention several factors must be examined. After several examinations of Roethke's poem as well as learning of his childhood it is evident that this poem does not suggest an abusive environment, but is an appreciative account of the love and playfulness between the characters. Therefore, a successful interpretation of this poem will look beyond the four stanzas and study not only the history of the writing, but the life of the poet.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    347 Words  | 1 Pages

    My Papas waltz by “Theodore Roethke can be read in a lot of ways. My interpretation on the poem is a parent abusing his child due to alcoholism. This poem relates to the author’s relationship with his father as a child. The author Theodore Roethke had a fight with father when he was younger, he uses this memory to create this poem. Theodore loved his father, but his father terrified him at the same time.

    Read More

  • Response To The Poem 'My Papa's Waltz'

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    A waltz is a dance, a beautiful two person dance. A waltz in someone's life can be a situation there struggling with or a person they're having a difficult time with. I've gone through times where my waltz is easy and others where I felt I count quite finish it the way I wanted; in line 3-4 it says ¨but I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy. ¨ this suggests that the boy in the poem is struggling with his father and every person involved or from an outside perspective has a contrasting attitude towards it. A recent struggle i've had was in my relationship with my ex boyfriend.

    Read More

  • Familial Love Themes

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    True love in a family is the kind that can never be replaced. The kind of love that makes a father and daughter bond so strong is also the kind of love that puts a smile on a child’s face after coming home from a long day of work. The one that keeps a family floating through anything. True love becomes evident when reading the poem My Papa’s Waltz which describes a father coming home from work and see’s his wife and child. Taking place right after dinner the father immediately begins making lots of noise knocking pans around dancing in the kitchen. As the father realizes the boy’s excitement he grabs him to join in on the dance and the two begin to wrestle around in the kitchen making a mess. The mother is not the happiest because the two “romped until the pans slid from the shelf,”(Roethke lines 5-6) but she enjoys seeing the two have so much fun. In the poem, the boy describes every aspect of his father while the two play around. Although the mom in this story is upset she will have to clean, it is apparent the son and father are having a blast. This story ends when the dad “then waltzed me off to bed, still clinging to your shirt.”(lines 15-16) The son has his night ended with his dad dancing him to his bed. A true love could be no more evident than this in a family. Many people can think of memories of parents doing complete acts of love like this just to make a child

    Read More

More about Analysis of the Poem My Papa´s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

Open Document