More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis on my papas waltz
Analysis of my papa's waltz sparknotes
Analysis of Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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 reflect on a fond playful memorie between his father and younger self “waltzing.” The poem was published in 1942, a few years after his father had passed away. Many of his poem were about memories he had had with his father in his uncle's greenhouse. Roethke had received the news that he had a mental illness. He used his illness to as a way of exploring different ways to write and having a different perspective of things. In discussions of “My Papa’s Waltz,” one controversial issue …show more content…
has been whether the poem is about his childhood memory about his father abusing him after work or just about his father and younger self waltzing. On the one hand, some readers argue is just about his father spending time with him after work to maintain that father son bond. On the other hand, many readers contend the poet's memory is about his intoxicated father abusing him. However, after deconstructing the poem, it becomes increasingly undoubtedly clear that the poem is just about Roethke's memorie between his father and himself waltzing. The imagery and diction in this poem may lead the readers to interpret the message of the poem differently.
Although personal experiences play a key part in the way you interpret the poem. An example of this, is the first stanza “The whiskey on your breath-can make a small boy dizzy”. The lines lead the reader to interpret the poem as a hard working father having a drink after a long day of work. However, some readers argue that the author's use of the word “whiskey” is used in a negative connotation, and it reveals the father is intoxicated. The young boy is dizzy due to how strong the whiskey is. Instead, it may just be about a hardworking father having a drink after a long day of work, since it was more common in the times it was written. The second lines which are “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” lead the reader to interpret them as a little boy holding on so hard to his father due to not being able to dance too much because of the smell. The phrase “hung on like death” indicates the little boy did not know how to dance as great, so they hung on so they would not fall. Understanding the diction of the poem is important to help understand the message the author is trying to …show more content…
convey. The imagery in the poem is a key part poem to understanding .In the second stanza many readers believe that the diction of the word “romped” is used in a negative connotation although the definition of romper is to play roughly.
The father and son could have been playing, and dancing very hard with his son. This would led to the pans falling from the kitchen shelf. This would have also led the mother the mother's “countenance” because she would be worried by the roughly playing and the mess they could have made in the kitchen. In the third stanza it states “The hand that held my wrist-Was battered on one knuckle.” This phrase leads the readers to infer that his father's hand that held his wrist was injured on one of his knuckles. The hard working father could have gone to work and injured his ankle causing him to be hurt on one knuckle. In the next stanzas it states “At every step you missed-My right ear scraped a buckle.” These line lead the audience to believe that the because the father had a little to drink this would make it difficult for him to not to follow along so well, and miss a step. After missing a step that would cause the son to scrape his ear against his belt “buckle”. In the poem the author/ poet also uses a rhyme scheme in the end of each stanza. Using a ABAB rhyme
scheme.
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.
The poem takes the reader back in time for a moment to a small kitchen and a young boy at bedtime. The dishes have been cleared and placed on the counter or in the sink. The family is seated around the table. The father having a glass of whiskey to relax after a very hard day working in the family owned twenty-five-acre greenhouse complex. He is asked to take his small son to bed. The poem begins, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke line 1) enlists the imagery of what the young boy was smelling as he most likely climbed aboard his fathers’ large work boots for the evening waltz to bed. It is obvious this is an evening ritual, one that is cherished. The boy is aware of his fathers’ waltzing abilities and he concedes that he is up for the challenge. The irony of the statement, “I hung on like death” (Roethke line 3) is a private one, yet deeply describes his yearning for one more waltz with his father who passed away when Theodore was only fifteen years ...
The poem begins by establishing that the speakers’ father has had more than enough to drink. “The whiskey on his breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy.” These lines (1, and 2) help in the development of the poem because they set ...
Roethke, Theodore. "My Papa's Waltz." Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River. New Jersey: Prentice 2002. 435.
For example, his use of negative imagery suggest that he has a drunk father. Hence in the first two lines of the poem. “ The whiskey on your breath
The first line in the poem introduces the fact that the father has been drinking whiskey. Now, most of us know that people have different reactions to alcohol. Some people are funny and like to have a good time, others become pretty mean. Which category the father falls in is hotly debated, however, most agree that the father’s drinking is the catalyst for the events in the rest of the poem be it waltzing or beating. Then comes the line, “But I hung on like death.” This is an incredibly powerful simile. Death has a negative connotation and adds a darkness to the piece as well as creating some very strong and powerful imagery. Also in the vein of imagery, the description of the father’s hands as “battered on one knuckle,” and “palm caked hard by dirt,” are very descriptive. His hands’ knuckles could be battered (which is an intense word that usually indicates some type of violence) from hitting and abusing the boy, or, in tandem with his hands being caked with dirt, just shows that his father is a hard
The poem opens with a son talking about his father’s alcoholism, describing that the amount of whiskey his father drank “could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke) with the effects of alcohol. The figurative dance with addiction is not easy for the boy, but he still “hung on like death” (Roethke), hoping for a brighter outcome. The father and son are in the kitchen, where the amount of the father’s drunken, physical abuse on the child causes pans to fall from kitchen shelves (Roethke). The boy’s mother, however, can only stand to the side and watch the events unfold with a “countenance [that] could not unfrown itself” (Roethke). The boy’s father grabs him by the wrist with a “battered...knuckle” (Roethke). With this interpretation in mind, the cause of the father’s rough hands becomes unclear. His hands could still be rough from a hard day of work, or perhaps his abusive nature has ended with injuries on his hands. The amount of alcohol consumed by the father causes him to stumble, or miss steps, according to the speaker. As the physical abuse continues, the child states he is “still clinging to [his father’s] shirt” (Roethke). This last line hints that, although the father is an abusive drunk, the child still loves his father and clings to this love with the hope that someday things will improve for his
This means that the poem contains unstressed followed by stressed syllables. In addition, each line contains three-stressed syllable, which makes it trimeter. For instance, “The whiskey on your breath” (1) can be used to identify the stressed syllables in that line. The syllable for “whisk”, “on” and “breath” are the three stressed syllable within that line of the poem. The use of an iambic trimeter allows the poem to become the waltz itself as it matches the three beats of the waltz. While this meter is used throughout the poem, there are certain lines that contain disruptions to the meter of this poem. For example, “slide from the kitchen shelf”(6) which is a trochaic. A trochee is a meter pattern that involves a stressed syllable flowed by an unstressed syllable. In this case, “slide” is a stressed syllable, while “from” is unstressed. These disruptions in meter mirror the father’s “missing steps” in line 11. This dance between the father and son is not smooth, but rather rough and clumsy due to the father’s drunkenness. Similarly, the first stanza also includes a simile, “But I hung on like death” (3), which portrays a sense of seriousness in tone of the speaker. In other words, there is a sense of play but also a sense of danger that characterizes the
In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, an image of waltzing is clearly illustrated. The symbolism and language is portrayed almost as a distant memory that the author is writing about. The main conflict in this poem is the term and main idea of waltzing. The waltz is formally known as a delicate, beautiful dance consisting of rhythm and spins. Even though it is a close bond between the father and son, it comes off quite baleful. The conflict captured in Roethke’s poem is the two different meanings of waltzing. How can this be a beautiful dance shared between two people in one mindset, and how can the main element be the father and son waltzing in a completely opposite way.
The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, is about a boy reminiscing about an incidence with his father. From the beginning, this poem states the conflict between a father and son involved in a rambunctious dance, but as it continues, the story suggests the dance may actually be a physical altercation. Within the line, “Such waltzing was not easy,” is the proposal this is not a singular incident, but rather a routine ritual between the boy and his father (Line 4). The speaker is an adult recollecting, to himself as the audience, a childhood memory of an incident with his father. As the poem opens, the child recalls his father engaging in act of the drinking whiskey to the extent that the fumes of his breath made him dizzy or lightheaded, as if the adrenaline coursing through his veins from wrestling or struggling with his father wasn’t enough to make him unsteady. The child is hanging on to his father as a way of protecting himself from the assault being inflicted upon him. When the narrator states within the simile, “But I hung on like death,” death symbolizes a force inescapable and not able to release its grasp (3). As the poem continues, the speaker uses the term “romped” to describe the movement within the waltz. A waltz is an elegant, flowing type of dance and one does not “romp” through a waltz. The two participants are causing such a ruckus, the mother’s pans slide off a shelf in the kitchen. As the mother looks on, she is silent with only a frown as an expression of her disapproval. The speaker states his father’s hand “was battered on one knuckle,” suggesting the hand had been injured possibly from another violent incident in the past (10). As the commotion continues, the child is “waltzed” into his bedroom, the ...
This poem has a kept form. Even at a glance, it has a set form. It consists of four quatrains, each line being an iambic tritameter. The poem is about a young boy waltzing with his father. One can assume that the speaker is a young boy, or perhaps the poet reminiscing his youth. The father dances around in a haphazard manner, knocking over pans in the kitchen. Upon first glance, the tone is humorous. The picture one immediately forms is rather comical with the boy clinging on for dear life as his chuckling father spins him round and round, making a mess in the kitchen while the mother looks on discontentedly. However, the line, "whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy" suggests the father's drunkedness and "at every step you missed my right ear scraped buckle" suggests the dance was not an altogether joyful one. Lines such as "hung on like death", and "beat time on my head" are might even lead the reader to think the father is abusive of the boy.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
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.
The poet crafts the poem using various negative connotations that might cause the reader to believe the father and child don’t have a good relationship. For example, the poem says “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: such waltzing
In addition, the fact that he added that the father was missing steps prior to stating the injury he received from the belt, lends further credence to the notion that he pitied his father’s alcoholism. The latter is supported by the following argument: when one is drunk, he or she is not their true selves; and since the father was drunk in the poem, we may conclude that he was not his true self. From this, we may adduce that the boy can distinguish between his father’s personality when he is either drunk or sober, provided we can negate the notion that he is always drunk and never sober when around his son. We see that the father isn’t always inebriated: “(His hand) Was battered on one knuckle; / With a palm caked hard by dirt,” (10, 14). This makes it apparent that the father is a working man, who, assumedly, has a steady job, and thus cannot always be drunk due to work responsibilities.