Everyone has memories about the past in which they can remember a certain taste, smell, or feeling that brings joy. The speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke is reminiscing about his father in what used to be a joyful moment but is now a haunting memory. This poem is frequently analyzed due to it’s meaning that continues to be relevant after sixty-eight years. It can be seen as a happy poem about a father and a son, but the diction and metaphors used lead to its serious and sad implication. “My Papa’s Waltz,” is a narrative poem written in a lyrical way using rhythm and beat. The speaker tells a story about a joyful memory between a father and son that has an unfortunate connotation. Behavior in family relationships is not always what is seems to be because the speaker realizes the truth behind the moments he had with his father.
The
…show more content…
language used is critical to get the sense of emotion the speaker is feeling. From the first stanza, there is a sad tone to the poem. The first line says “The whisky on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). We know that the father drank more than he should have since it had such a strong effect of making the boy dizzy. The boy must be young since the speaker says “small boy” and he is looking back at a memory since he references himself as small and no longer see’s himself that way. In the poem there is no response to the father we know the biy is looking back at a memory. The audience is the boy’s father due to the fact that he uses “you” to address him. The second two lines are crucial in setting up the image that the poem gives. When the speaker says “But I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy” (3-4). Waltzing in the poem is seen as a metaphor of life. He is as innocent as a small boy could be. The speaker uses a simile when he mentions hanging on like death. He loves his father and hangs on to him, although he is hanging on like death. Death symbolizes the fear the child is feeling. Death also symbolizes the haunting memory the speaker has. Waltzing appears to be a symbol of life; the speaker remembers a memory from his life journey and the child already feels like life is not easy with his father’s actions. Being a young and naive child, he continued to hang on and love his father. In the next line the speaker says, “We romped until the kitchen pans slid from the shelf” (5-6). Romped provides to the rhythm of the poem. Romping, which is usually a happy frolic, is so violent that is shaking the pans of the kitchen shelf. Romping would not cause such chaos. What was a joyful moment for the child actually shows the battle that the father and son had for a calm and steady relationship. In the poem, the speaker says, “my mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself” (7-8). There is an image of a frowning mother, but she doesn’t take action. Only the boy noticed his mother, not the father. This shows how distracted the father was. The father was zoned into this waltz that he did not realize she was around. The mother is angry because of all the commotions that they were causing in the kitchen. She also did not interfere because she did not want to cause even more commotion. She could not help but frown. The third stanza of the poem is essential for the story being told.
The stanza says, “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle” (9-12). This shows that the child was so young that his ear only reached to his father buckle. This is also a fierce connotation for the father missing every step or making a mistake in the child’s life and this caused pain for the child. Every time the father misses a step and the buckle hits the boy’s ear, he is hurting his son. The use of the word batter in these lines is very important. According to Merriam Webster dictionary battered means “to beat with successive blows so as to bruise, shatter, or demolish” (Merriam Webster). The strong diction used sets up an image of a bruised and bloody hand. The father’s battered hand is the result of the amount that the father would abuse his son. This stanza also shows a shift in the poem. The reader is taken from an image of the father and son romping and causing chaos in the kitchen, to the son being held by his wrist while being physically and emotionally hurt by his
father. The next two lines say “you beat time on my head, with a palm caked hard by dirt” (13-14). Beat in the poem reminds us of the lyrical perspective, but it is also an abusive act against the son. The father is literally beating his child, but he is also going along to the beat of the waltz. The speaker is remembering how the father’s hands had dirt and the image of how rough his hands were. At the end of the poem, it says “Then you waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt” (15-16). This shows how at the end of the day the boy still loves his father. After all the abuses and hardships the son still holds on to his father and does not want to let him go. The diction used helps the reader determine the tone of the poem. Baird states: The diction of the poem also underscores the child’s sense of fright at the experience. Although of first reading the poem may seem funny, with utensils falling in slapstick fashion as the father and child bang around the kitchen, it is clearly not amusing to the child who has to hold on tightly to his father to avoid falling like the pots and pans. (Baird) Roethke uses diction such as “death” and “such waltzing was not easy” (line 4). This gives the poem a haunting tone. The word “battered” gives the audience the image of the hand. Meanwhile the words “romped” and “beat” give the audience a sense that the poem in lyrical and provides to the rhythm of the poem. All the language used reveals the true meaning of the poem Poetry should be looked as a raw for of art. In “My papa’s Waltz” the diction, metaphors, and imagery all provide to its true meaning. Tyson explains in her work the importance of looking at a piece of work for what it is. She uses William Shakespeare’s work as an example. There is no way to contact him to find out what he intended for his audience to understand when they read his work. An authors work sometimes has a deeper and more rich meaning than what they intended it to be (Tyson). Her critics can be compared to the way to perceive “ My Papa’s Waltz.” An entire meaning can be formed about the poem without any information other than the poem itself. “My Papa’s Waltz” takes the audience through a lyrical story about a bittersweet memory between a father and son. The conflict in the poem still continues to be relevant in today’s time. The poem was written in 1948 and now in 2016 it is still analyzed because family relationships continue to be a reoccurring problem. Normally children are more positive and happy than adults. When the child is older they begin to reminisce and realize things were different than they thought. They begin to uncover truths about their childhood. In modern day, people can relate to having a problematic family relationship and haunting memories.
The most notable qualities of Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are the tone and language of the poem which convey the nostalgia adult author feels thinking about the time spent with his father. In the title narrator’s father is affectionately referred to as “Papa” making the impression that the main character and his father are close. The use of possessive pronoun “my” contributes to the overall impression that the father holds special place in the narrator’s heart. As word “waltz” in the title implies the poem gives account of the festive occasion in which the narrator’s father takes part.
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.
In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. Through diction and details, the speaker conveys his complex attitudes toward his father. When first read it, it appears the young boy is afraid of his father. The first line of the poem writes: "The whiskey on your breath; could make a small boy dizzy." Apparently, the father likes whisky and the smell of it is remaining on his person, which causes the young boy's aversion. The diction of "dizzy" depicts the young boy is getting overwhelmed by the smell of the drink. Imagine how a little child feels when he notices the strange smell of his parent, He feels weak or even scared. That is exactly what the young boy feels when he saw his drunken father with the distasteful smell. The poem then goes on saying: "but I hung on like death, such waltzing was not easy." This simile compares the fear of the boy to the death. To have a feeling of death is not a pleasant feeling, therefore when they started "waltzing"; the young boy thinks it is "not easy." This shows that ...
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
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a representation of the journey toward reconciliation of the love and the fear that the speaker, a young boy, has for his father, and is an extended metaphor for the way that we balance the good and bad in our lives. Whilst reading this poem it is impossible to determine definitively whether it is truly about a dance or if the speaker is actually being abused. However, I don’t believe that it really matters either way. Actually, I believe it is this ambiguity and push and pull between the two extremes that creates the overall sense of struggle that comes with the reconciliation of the facets of the father and son’s relationship. This dance between love and fear is accentuated by Roethke’s use of ambiguous diction, end rhyme, and iambic trimeter.
Theodore Roethke’s poem, My Papa’s Waltz (1948), presents both a warming memory of a boy and his father as well as a dark story of an abusive childhood. Combining a story of both joy and horror sends an important message of abuse and the fear it instills in the victims. Through Roethke’s structure and word choice in My Papa’s Waltz presents two stories which simultaneously depict the fear and Stockholm Syndrome type love often found in abusive relationships.
"My Papa 's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke 's, is a poem about a boy who expresses his affection for his father, but at the same time expresses a sense of danger that comes from the father. The poem appears to be a snapshot in time from a child’s memory. The uplifting experience is created through the father and son’s waltz while the father’s uncontrollable movements juxtaposes the menace of the drunken father.
Childhood experiences seem to be the ones that are recollected most vividly throughout a person's life. Almost everyone can remember some aspect of his or her childhood experiences, pleasant and unpleasant alike. Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz" suggests even further that this concept could be true. The dance described in this poem illustrates an interaction between father and child that contains more than the expected joyous, loving attitude between the two characters. Roethke's tone in this work exhibits the blended, yet powerful emotions that he, as a grown man, feels when looking back on this childhood experience. The author somewhat implicates feelings of resentment fused with a loving reliance with his father.
The events of our childhood and interactions with our parents is an outline of our views as parents ourselves. Although Robert Hayden’s relationship with his father differentiates from the relationship of Theodore Roethke and his father, they are both pondering back to their childhood and expressing the events in a poem. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those winter Sundays” provide the reader with an image of a childhood event which states how fathers are being viewed by their children. These poems reflect upon the relationship of the father and child when the child was a youth. Both Roethke and Hayden both indicate that their fathers weren’t perfect although they look back admiringly at their fathers’ actions. To most individuals, a father is a man that spends time with and takes care of them which gains him love and respect. An episode of Roethke’s childhood is illustrated in “My Papa’s Waltz”. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father comes home showing signs of alcohol and then begins waltzing with his son. Roethke states that the father’s hands are “battered on one knuckle”. The mother was so upset about the dancing that she did nothing other than frown. At the end of the day, the father waltzed the son to bed. “Those Winter Sundays” is based on a regular Sunday morning. The father rises early to wake his family and warm the house. To warm the house, he goes out in the cold and splits wood to start a fire. This is a poem about an older boy looking back to his childhood and regretting that “No one ever thanked him.” In Those Winter Sundays'; by Robert Hayden, the poet also relinquishes on a regular occurrence in his childhood. On Sunday mornings, just as any other morning, his father rises early and puts on his clothes in the cold darkness. He ...
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.
Written by Theodore Roethke, the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is written in past tense as a memory of a child’s alcoholic father. As the drunken father waltzes with his child, the child finds difficulty in holding on. As the poem progresses, the idea of tension begins to take hold. Dishes begin to fall from the kitchen shelf and the scene takes a darkening image. In “My Papa’s Waltz” Roethke warns the reader about the effects of alcoholism through the use of literary elements such as diction, structure, symbolism of death, and metaphorical abuse of the family.
Many adults, often reminisce about their childhood days. They enjoy going back to the carefree days of innocence. We can almost hear the laughter of days gone by, as we feel a smile come across our face. It’s amazing how reminiscing can change our mood and how much joy it brings. A trip down memory lane is priceless and good for the soul. We get to visit with our loved ones, who are no longer with us, or those far away. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” written by Theodore Roethke, the speaker, reminisces back to his childhood with his father. The speaker suggests a dual interpretation —through the rhythm, word choice, theme, and tone—on the ritual of the special nightly bedtime waltz that father
Poetry has the power to convey a compelling meaning with even the simplest idea and gesture. It can also be interpreted differently based on the reader’s experience or personal connection to the poem. A prime example of this includes Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz”. In Roethke’s poem, the speaker recalls on a fond memory he has waltzing with his father. While much of the poem has subtle hints connecting to abuse, I believe that the poem simply reminisces on a joyous memory. The significance behind the poem concentrates on the idea of an everlasting bond between a father and son.
In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke writes about a childhood memory interpreting his relationship with his father. Although the poem comes off as a compassionate tale about a man coming home and dancing with his son, Roethke actually depicted his recollections as a child in an abusive household. Growing up in the 1900’s, Roethke experienced stages of depression, stemming from the loss of his father and uncle, self esteem issues, and years of misery. Roethke channeled his agony into dedicating his time to academics and pursuing his career in writing. In spite of being abused, Roethke managed to overcome his past traumas to become a brilliant writer. The experiences he went through would later help define him as a poet.
Have you ever felt regret about being selfish towards your parents or thankful for everything your parents have done for you? In the poems “My Papa’s Waltz”, by Theodor Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays”, by Hayden White both narrators have felt the same feelings towards their parents. Writing about childhood memories can be a great method of symbolizing emotional experiences of one’s childhood. Both poems are very similar themes. Each of the poems tell a story of a child who reminisce on their lives by telling about certain events that occurred during their childhood. Both poems are sentimental and emotional narratives of the boy’s relationship with their fathers. In “My Papa’s Waltz” the narrator uses specific imagery and words that are easy to understand, helping make the poem provide emotion. The poem “Those Winter Sundays” is much shorter but has a corresponding issue. The poem’s interpretation of meaning depends on reader’s point of view. Although both poems are very brief, they grasp an emotional outlook and values of relationships efficiently.