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American poetry history
American poetry history
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SUMMARY:
Theodore Roethke’s short poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is a small representation of the bond between a young boy and his father while waltzing in their kitchen. The father has had too much whiskey in his system and seems to be drunk. The father and son are knocking over pans and creating a huge mess, upsetting the mother. The boy is trying to enjoy the dance with his father, but his ear is getting scraped on by his father’s belt buckle. This straight forward poem ends with the father waltzing the son up into his bed for the night.
EVALUATION:
• Speak directly to a character or speaker and “give your two cents’ worth.” If you could stop the action at a particular point, what would you say?”
I believe that this dancing and fun bond that
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.
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
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.
"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.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
hands, not the grooms that slept withal. "the sleepy and the dead are but as pictures; tis the eye of the childhood that
The poem His stillness by Sharon Olds gave her a definite understanding of the man that she called “father.” Olds grew up in an abusive family home because her dad was always known as an alcoholic. Because of her dad’s habit, created hard living environments for her and she wished that her parents never got married. Whenever liquor was in her dad’s system, he was unemotional making life for Olds hard. She never described the things that he did to her. The visit to the doctor’s office made her opened up to her dad. She saw her dad as lovely and caring family man and she never imagine him being the man that he was at the doctor’s office. He did not overreacted when he heard news; instead he was calm and accepted the news. She felt tremendously sad for her dad and from there now she started noticing the man she never knew. Olds and her dad bond grew stronger at the doctor’s office. The man she had always known for his abusive behavior turned out the most caring man in the world.
“He’d wrestle his Parents” (Nye line 2). For many children they do this all the time. In the poem “Our Son Swears He Has 102 Gallons of Water in His Body,” Naomi Shihab Nye describes this situation between a child and a parent arguing over the solution to a math problem. After analyzing the poem, the reader is the poem not only describes this conflict, but it also stresses the relationship between a child and their parents.
This short story revolves around a young boy's struggle to affirm and rationalize the death and insanity of an important figure in his life. The narrator arrives home to find that Father James Flynn, a confidant and informal educator of his, has just passed away, which is no surprise, for he had been paralyzed from a stroke for some time. Mr. Cotter, a friend of the family, and his uncle have much to say about the poor old priest and the narrator's relationship with him. The narrator is angered by their belief that he's not able, at his young age, to make his own decisions as to his acquaintances and he should "run about and play with young lads of his own age ..." That night, images of death haunt him; he attempts make light of the tormenting face of the deceased priest by "smiling feebly" in hopes of negating his dreadful visions. The following evening, his family visits the house of the old priest and his two caretakers, two sisters, where he lies in wake. There the narrator must try and rationalize his death and the mystery of his preceding insanity.
Theodore Roethke is a very talented poet and used juxtaposition through the whole piece to show the child's unsure opinion of his father figure, and if it is abusive or a loving relationship. To convey this uneasy feeling in the piece Roethke says, ¨At every step you missed, my right ear scraped a buckle,¨ The narrator allows the audience to form opinions on how the two opposing fragments in the excerpt. That quote could imply a positive tone, knowing that the narrator is a small child and may be the height of the man's waist, where a belt buckle would be placed, or a negative tone by explaining that he may be hit physically. Through the story, juxtaposition is used again when Theodore Roethke writes, ¨ You beat time on my head with a palm.¨ When waltzing, time is measured in beats, which implies that the narrator and man are waltzing just as the title claims. Using
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.
...alks about the life of a man whose father is a candle and soap maker by trade, who then when to school to become a priest, couldn't afford the school so he went to regular school and then learned various trades that would benefit him for the rest of his life. He apprenticed to a book printer so he could follow his dreams, became a writer and sail to England, made his way through a rough patch and then came back to America to make a name for himself as one of the most prominent men of his age.
"The heart pills are dices in my father 's hand, gambler who needs cash by the first of the month" from here we can see that the writer is referring his father as a gambler, who is gambling with his health and the crucial reality that he has to work for rent. through comparing his father with a gambler is a great way to show the difficulties his father is going through. the second simile is "Heart hammering like the fist of a man at the door with an eviction notice" here the speaker indicating his father 's heart beating as an angry fist striking the door, which shows the father 's frustration: working under bad heart condition or evicting by the landlord. The last stanza has the father as a guitar being played in the son 's hands. Here the speaker is dreaming his father is guitar which infers the writer 's wish that his father could be a guitar so that he can be the player who decides how and what to do to protect the
Unlike Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox, Dad sleeps just down the hall, in the other bedroom. On weekends he and his friends trot down the road with their saws and axes, while the ladies stay inside, stirring lemonade. Their boots land so heavy, a solid slab of road can't last and it gives to gravel. As Dad pushes through the thicket branches break back from his wooden shoulders. Then he stops. This afternoon trees fall and fall under him and his crew. The walls of the house shake around the ladies and children. The cupboards rattle and long, dainty needles quiver in their sewing boxes.
The climate of genuine dialogue, what I have to say at any one time already has in me the character of something that I