My Papa's Waltz Tone

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In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, the father is a bad one. The first, second and third line of this poem is “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy; but I hung on like death” (494 Roethke). At this point in time, the narrator is stating that the father is very intoxicated. A father should never be around his child drunk, it is extremely irresponsible and it does not set a good example for his child. The father could be an angry drunk and put his child’s life at risk. This is something you should never do. Through out the poem, the narrator explains how sloppy the father was. In the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas, the tone is similar to the tone in My Papa’s Waltz. Both tones appear

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