"My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke is an interesting poem that begins with some complicity. The tone of the poem brings the impression of a child's unconditional love for his abusive father. The waltz is a formal, intimate dance two people close to each other do and ”Papa” is an affectionate word for father. However, there are signs of violence throughout the poem, despite what we assume about the graceful dance. These hidden messages strongly counteract our normal expectations when we think of a waltz. Some may see this poem just to be a son's cheerful memory of an evening dancing with his father, rather than the child abuse is it truly about.
The fifth and sixth lines describe a time in a families kitchen where pans fall off the
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kitchen shelf from “dancing” “We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6). When the mother comes in she is unimpressed. Her facial expression “Could not unfrown itself” (8). This shows us that the mother did not do anything to stop the ruckus. We would normally think of a mother’s love as unconditional and willing to do anything for her children but in this case, perhaps she was too scared to step in because the drunk father may have abused her as well. The young boy Theodore Roethke talks about, creates a somewhat violent poem to the reader by using particular words in his poem.
The boy says “I hung on like death: / such waltzing was not easy” to show he is being beaten badly but is still hanging on strongly for this life (Roethke 3,4). He also uses the phrase “battered on one knuckle” to describe his father’s knuckles after he was most likely hit (10). The writer chooses the word “battered” in the poem to describe his father’s knuckles because it creates a realistic visual image of the beating. When a person is battered badly by another person, their knuckles often become tore up and …show more content…
bruised. One of the last words Roethke places in his poem to highlight the child abuse is “beat.” The phrase “beat time on [the boy’s] head” implies that the father is hitting the son in the head (13). Of all the words that could be used, Roethke chooses “beat” because of the images of violence that most would associate with child abuse, this is just another way Roethke exposes the true meaning of the poem. Roethke goes into detail on certain actions of the characters in the poem to intimate to the reader that the poem addresses child abuse.
The father drinks; “the whiskey on [his] breath / could make a small boy dizzy” (1,2) gives the possibility that the father may be an alcoholic and how is behaviour might have changed when he drank, making him more aggressive. The eleventh through fourteenth lines describe actual harm that was done to the young boy by way of his father’s drinking: “At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle / You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt” (11-14). We can actually picture the boy clinging to his fathers leg as his ear scrapes the father’s belt
buckle. The poem "My Papa's Waltz" uses a strong choice of works in order to convey the message that the poem is about, dealing with an abusive father. The son "waltzes" or battles with his father constantly and still somehow manages to see him as a hard-working father figure and "still clings to the father’s shirt" (16). Although Roethke’s poem is called “My Papa’s Waltz,” it is clearly a dance of violence involving a young boy. By using descriptive words and describing the brutal actions that the father takes, Roethke really makes the readers feel the situation the young boy was in.
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.
As Jeanette Walls reveals this unraveling tale of her childhood she spares little to no detail from scrutiny, least of all the faults she finds in her father. As the reader enters the scene of her earliest memory the irrational thought process of her mother is instantly brought to light. A toddler catches herself on fire while attempting to cook hotdogs and who is to come to the rescue?
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 ...
Today, people tend to believe that hitting a person is abuse. Although, many people can connect with ¨My Papaś Waltz¨ by Theodore Roethke, the intended audience is himself illustrating a past memory of his childhood. The controversy of the poem is whether itś a good or bad memory. While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly supports the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” to illustrate on a past memory of his drunk and abusive father.
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke writes about a little boy who is about to go to bed, and his father comes home with a strong smell of alcohol on his breath, “The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy;” (Roethke 1-2 ). This shows that the father has been drinking and the smell is so strong he is getting dizzy from it. Even though the little boy dad is drinking he is very happy to be with him. As Roethke points out, “But I hung on like death: / Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke 3-4). As the little boy and his father continued to dance around the house and have a good time, the little boy’s mother was getting angry at the father. Roethke concludes,” My mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke 8-9). Roethke adds, “The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle;” (Roethke 9-10). This shows his father is a hardworking man. The work that his father produces makes his knuckles bleed. As they continue to dance the little boy realizes that if he doesn’t keep up with his father’s dancing, his ear scrapes his father’s belt buckle. The father is having such a good time with his son, Roethke adds, “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard with dirt” (Roethke 13-14). The father with his filthy hands is playing drums on top of the little boy’s head. Roethke concludes with, “Then waltzed me off to bed/Still clin...
“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.
The poem "My Papa's Waltz" uses imagery by especially appealing to the sense of touch. The sense of touch also helps the reader to better understand the abusive father theme. The third stanza concentrates on the actual act of abuse. The author, Roethke, describes the battle wounds on the father and son that are inflicted by the father. The father's hand "was battered on one knuckle" from hitting his son with a belt (10). This is apparent because the son's "right ear scraped...
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.
Poetry is a special gift, which unfortunately is not given to all of us. Mr. Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) was an American poet with this magnificent gift. Mr. Roethke is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation (Wiki). His poems present figurative language, which means that it says something, but is not actually what it means, or it can be interpreted in a totally different way. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” has imaginary and mixed feelings between the speaker, which is a child, and his father. After having researched a lot more about the Poet’s life I find this poem highly eloquent and fallacious. Even though, it’s a brief poem I can say that this talks about Mr. Roethke’s childhood. This
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, was a great poem that can mean many different things to many different people of this world. To me I think it was just a boy who just wanted to spend time with his dad before he has to go to bed. The boy probably does not get to spend time with his dad that much. The father probably works all day and all week and this is the only time the boy gets to spend with him. Roethke use of words in this poem is amazing. The use of the words in this story can mean different things to the reader. The first word to look at is the word waltz. In the dictionary the word waltz is a dance for a fast triple meter song. This is just what the father is doing with his son but his is drunk and dizzy. “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy (Roethke)” The word death is not what people usually think but nobody can shake or get away from death. So the boy was holding on to his father where his father could not get away from him like the boy did not want him to go. “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf (Roethke)” another word to understand is romped. The word romped means to play or frolic in a lively or boisterous manner. To go deeper in the definition boisterous means rough and noisy. While the father and the son are playing around dancing they are also messing up the house as well. Messing up the kitchen will make any mother mad and that is what happens next. Of out any other place in the house the kitchen is the woman’s throne room. “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle; at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle (Roethke).” In lines 9-12 you can tell that the father has came back from a long day of work. The father’s job has to be doing something wi...
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.
In 1908, the year this poem was written, child abuse was recognized internationally and the “Children Act of 1908” was put in place to attempt to minimize the occurrences. The narrator, a young boy in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke uses harsh and intense wording that describes the daily rituals of abuse within the household from the father that he characterizes as a dance. A large counter argument against this poem says that the narrator is speaking out of admiration rather than fear; that the narrator and his drunken father are merrily playing around by dancing together around their house.
The first reader’s response of Theodore Roethke poem, My Papa’s Waltz, is pleasant and memorable in manner. The reader, a knowledgeable literature teacher, explained that as she read the poem she began visualizing the little boy recalling fond memories of his father lightheartedly and pure in nature caring for him as a child. Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”: A Reader’s Response states, “For me the poem’s tone was one of fond recollection: that the adult speaker still remembers small details of this waltzing suggested to me that the child thoroughly enjoyed this dance” (1). The first reader foresaw no interpretation of remorse or malice in My Papa's Waltz. She was prepared to discuss her interpretation with her students and was abruptly surprised by the difference in opinion. Theodore Roethke’s
While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to look back on his most fondest childhood memories he has created of dancing with his father. In Roethke's poem “My Papa’s Waltz”, it inspires many forms of controversies alike do due to the vague nature of his motive for writing and publishing such a work of literature. This divides the both side into many forms of groups with evidence supporting their claim. Some may believe he was driven by the past abuse he received as a child. Others were convinced