My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke
Throughout the poem, "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, many techniques are used to show that there are furious conflicts between a father and his son. Roethke uses the word waltz in the title to relate to the beating of the son. I believe that the poem is altogether a negative poem, as described by the words and phrases the author uses.
To begin, the author immediately states that the father is a drunk. Roethke says, "The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy". The boy knows his father is drunk, and therefore knows he will be beaten. Since the boy realizes that he will be beaten, it shows that he has encountered this before. The beating of the little boy adds to the negativity of the depressing and lonely poem.
Furthermore, the fact that the father is drunk continues to show throughout the poem. While there are many negative ideas in the poem, the next is when Roethke states, "At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle". This in fact shows that the little boy is being drug around by the drunken father. In this particular instance the boy is being hauled around, but the author compares it to a dance when you would "miss a step" and stumble. Roethke then states, "You beat time on my head", as if he were keeping time for a dance or a rhythm on the boys head. This all enlarges the negativity and sadness of the poem. The small boy also states, "But I hung on like death". This proves that the boy was thinking about death, but dangling on to prevent it. During this whole incident the boy's mother sits and watches as the abuse continues.
Furthermore, the mother's apathy towards the battering of her son is even more depressing and negative. The author says, "My mother's countenance / Could not unfrown itself". This suggests that the mother has adapted to her husband's abusive behavior and has therefore decided to ignore them. This again increases the sorrow throughout the story.
On the other hand, the opposing side may view the poem differently. Some people may believe that the father is not abusive, but is just having fun. They may also believe that the father and son are actually dancing together and having a good time.
The beginning of the poem starts with a humorous tone. Kinnell begins his poem with a simile “snore like a bullhorn”, an “Irishman”, or playing “loud music” to express the idea of something that is really loud and noisy, but still cannot wake the son up as opposed to the child’s ability to wake up to “heavy breathing” and a “come-cry” (line1-7). The tone that the...
“Strongman” by Tony Curtis is a sonnet, expressing intense emotion. The poem begins in a very conversational manor. “A strongman you say” Shows this, by casually addressing the reader as if part of a conversation. This gives the impression that the writer is talking to the reader directly, almost as if the writer is talking of something personal to him. In the octet, many references to wood are appropriately made, as Curtis’ father is mentioned as being a carpenter. Curtis included these to represent his fathers career. Imagery is used to demonstrate his fathers ‘chest like a barrel’, and ‘neck that was like holding onto a tree.’ Similes are also used to display these.
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 is a poem that illustrates the love and bonding between a father and child through structure, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and diction. The poem begins with lines making it seem negative, violent, and maybe even hate. However it was really his use of figurative language to show them bonding and having fun. In the first quatrain it says the father has whiskey breath, enough to make a child dizzy, so the child hangs on like “death”, because it was hard for him to waltz. At a first glance this may seem negative because of the whiskey and the author's choice of words like death. Although it is not negative. The father may have had a whiskey breath but it doesn't state he was drunk, and him hanging on like death may sound horrific, but he has to hold on to him so he is inescapable as death because it is
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke can be interpreted in a few different ways. The most obvious one being that he was dancing around with his father, having so much fun that he did not want to stop. His father is very drunk though, which leads us to believe that it is no just a fun story of him and his father dancing one night. What Roethke is really trying to show us, is the abusive relationship he had with his father.
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 ...
While reading the poem the reader can imply that the father provides for his wife and son, but deals with the stress of having to work hard in a bad way. He may do what it takes to make sure his family is stable, but while doing so he is getting drunk and beating his son. For example, in lines 1 and 2, “The whisky on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy” symbolizes how much the father was drinking. He was drinking so much, the scent was too much to take. Lines 7 and 8, “My mother’s countenance, Could not unfrown itself.” This helps the reader understand the mother’s perspective on things. She is unhappy seeing what is going on which is why she is frowning. Although she never says anything it can be implied that because of the fact that the mother never speaks up just shows how scared she could be of her drunk husband. Lines 9 and 10, “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle”, with this line the reader is able to see using imagery that the father is a hard worker because as said above his knuckle was battered. The reader can also take this in a different direction by saying that his hand was battered from beating his child as well. Lastly, lines 13 and 14, “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt” As well as the quote above this quote shows that the father was beating his child with his dirty hand from all the work the father has
Although the dance between him and his father was rough and aggressive, the very fact that Roethke chose to write about the waltz indicates that it is a special moment he remembers sharing with his father. The poet has a remarkable ability to describe the moment and not his feelings. This is what makes "My Papa's Waltz" so interesting and leaves so much to interpretation.
From the every begin of the first lines of the poem, the imagery shows that the parents and son are at odds with each other. In the poem, the son is argues that there are 102 gallons of water in his body even though the parents tell him that he has mistaken the words “divide” and “multiply” to come out with a false answer. But, the son insists that he is right about this improbable figure because his teacher said that he was right. The parents argue back by saying do you remember that jug of milk and no way you’re carrying one hundred of those. Even after this the son still doesn’t listen to them. Because of the divide between son and his parents, the son won’t even consider that his parents might be right. The son thinks they are “idiots” without ev...
Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” describes an interaction between a boy and his father, presumably a memory of Roethke’s relationship with his own father. There is irony, where the title and the content of the poem massively differ in meaning, which makes the poem brilliant. The virtuosity of the writing comes from the diction, imagery, and irony Roethke uses to describe a seemingly sadistic relationship (and the physical abuse involved) between the father and son under the title of the most elegant of dance.
Additionally, in stanza two, the author writes that he and his father “romped until pans [fell] from the kitchen shelf,” illustrating the violence present in the relationship. Further, the author immediately writes that his “mother’s countenance [c]ould not unfrown itself,”painting a picture that she is also aware of abuse. In addition to the author’s mother being aware of abuse, Roethke emphasizes the hand that held his wrist is “battered” and “palm caked hard by dirt.” Although the imagery in “My Papa’s Waltz” is essential to the meaning of the poem, diction also plays a significant
All parents have different ways of interacting with their children. Poet Theodore Roethke writes the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” to showcase a relationship between a child and his or her father. Roethke uses purposeful ambiguity to allow his audience to come up with their own interpretation of the relationship by leaving the matters uncertain. The poet wants the audience to take what they know about the relationship and question why he chooses to leave matters the way they are.
In the first stanza Roethke proposes a hidden abuse by his word choice “ The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy;
Roethke uses imagery and diction that makes the reader feel different emotions. The imagery of a father with whiskey on his breath and battered knuckles paints a picture of a scruffy, rugged man. On the other hand, the diction and imagery of “waltzing” in line 4 creates a soft and sweet image of a father and child dancing. The image of “My right ear scraped a buckle / You beat
Page 8 Universal Themes In the novel Emma there are themes that are specific to the story and themes that could work for anything. A universal theme is one that can work for more than one story. The first universal theme in Emma is romance.