Comparing Those Winter Sundays 'And My Papa's Waltz'

A father figure can play a major role in development for an individual. The memories that a child shares with their parents can be their fondest, most hurtful, and most complex. These memories can have an effect on how a child memorializes them in the future. In the poems “Those Winter Sundays,” and “My Papa’s Waltz,” the authors Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke describe the dynamic relationships between father and son. While there are mirroring similarities between the two, there are also very stark differences as well. This can be Brought to light through the setting, father figure, and poem’s point of view.

The setting shows many differences in both poems. What is comparable is that both memories are set at the narrator’s home. Hayden,

however, emphasizes the setting more so because he tries to illustrate how hard the father works to keep the household together as if he is Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. The Narrator speaks of his father getting up early in the blue, black cold to retrieve firewood for what can be assumed to be a wood burning stove, or fireplace to keep the home warm for his family. This tells us that the poem takes place in the morning before sunrise. Roethke in “My Papa’s Waltz,” paints the picture that the father comes in with a drunken stupor and waltzes his son off to bed. This tells the reader that the setting takes place at night and it can further be inferred that the father went out for a night of drinking.
The biggest similarity of the poems over all is that these poems are both about a son looking back on a memory of their father, although, the father and son have distinctly different relationships.

Hayden talks about the son looking back with regret for never thanking his father and points out that he spoke indifferently to him at the time. Some may say that the father is not a nurturing type of person and shows his love through his support of the household. In contrast, the father figure in Roethke’s poem comes in to the home boisterously dancing with his son. The father’s relationship with his son seems to be more physical and genuine. If there is one thing that is for certain about the two fathers it is that they both have an immense amount love their sons, but have very different character

traits.
Perspective can tell a person a lot in these poems.

Both poems are told from the son’s point of view. A person can make this assumption by looking at line 12 in Hayden’s poem where it’s says his father “polished my good shoes as well,” most women during the time of the poem did not get their shoes polished. In Roethke’s poem he states in lines 1-2 “Whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy,” it can be safely interpreted that the small boy he spoke of is the son and narrator. The sons in the poem are similar in that they both think highly of their fathers but in differing ways. In “Those Winter Sundays,” the son admires his father’s work ethic and self-sacrifice, unfortunately this admiration is belated and not seen during the time of the poem. On the other hand in “My Papa’s Waltz,” The small boy praises his father during the poem because he sees him as the center of his universe. The points of view are comparable because both have a great of esteem for their father’s but they occur at different times, circumstances and

nature.
These two poems do a profound job at showing how a household can be very different from person to person. Details such as environment or setting and family relationships will be something every child will remember good or bad. Hayden shows that if a person does not take the time to thank a parent or guardian that there could be some amount of regret in the future. Roethke’s example is complex because there is tension between the father and mother but in the moment that he shares with his son he is carefree. A possible theme would be to savor these moments with your family no matter what.