Comparing My Papa Waltz And Roethke

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Furthermore, poetic devices were used in both poems to make them especially unique. In “My Papa Waltz” there was a ABAB rhyme scheme. Meaning that every other line in a stanza rhymed. For example, in the first stanza, he used breath and death for lines A. He also used dizzy and easy for lines B. In addition, he also added alliteration in this poem. Alliteration means the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words. Roethke wrote “The hand that held my wrist” this is a perfect example of alliteration. Another poetic device that is used in this poem is irony. In the poem, it describes the father waltzing around with his son but in reality, he is abusing him while being drunk. This can be clear in the first stanza “The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy.” Theodore Roethke used imagery as a poetic device. He …show more content…

Firstly, she used similes to described how she perceived her father due to him never being around. For example, in the poem it reads “A round cap on his head like a halo” and “for the slash of white our father like an angel heralding a new day” she is constantly describing her father has being holy and like an angel, even though, she doesn’t know him that well. Another poetic device that was used in this poem is symbol. The father is more of a symbol then being a parent. This is due to her not seeing him and only perceiving him as a holy person. She used free verse in the poem, there is no set form, or rhyme scheme. There is also consonance in the poem, “Round cap on his head like a halo”, she used the letter “O” a couple of times in one sentence to give it more power. Lastly, Cofer put imagery in “My father in the Navy: Childhood Memory” she perfectly described the uniform her father wore in the navy. She used words like “white cloth and round cap” to described how she perceived her

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