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Parent child relationships in literature poetry
Parent child relationships in literature poetry
Parent child relationships in literature poetry
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Roethke's “My Papa's Waltz” explores a complicated relationship between and alcoholic father and his son. The complex text uses stanzas and iambic trimeter to express tense situations between father and son. Roethke utilizes a direct address to, through the use of violent diction and painful imagery, illustrate the inner turmoil of the son as he “hangs on like death” to the dying connection he shares with his father. The narrator is a child terrorized by his abusive father and the insidious tone of the piece looks to demonstrate that “My Papa’s Waltz” is more disturbing than a playful romp around the bedroom.
The poem is broken up into four stanzas and follows an iambic trimeter or an abab rhyme scheme. Roethke utilizes both the structure
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and sound of the piece to illustrate the broken relationship between father and son. The poem is broken into iambic trimeter, but at times misses a step and diverges from the meter. Roethke on line 11 and 12 states, “At every step you missed, My right ear scraped a buckle,” the author uses this line to explain why the poem itself misses counts. The missed counts are representative of each time the father physically abuses the son, “At each step you missed” alludes to the father's fist nearly missing the narrator and “My right ear scraped a buckle” represent the child's struggle to dodge his father's blows. Therefore, Roethke uses each break in structure to illustrate an altercation between the two characters. Furthermore, Roethke uses assence to repeat the sound of pain throughout his work. The “ow” sound is repeated throughout the poem signifying again the pain inflicted by the father both physically and emotionally. The author also uses the structure of the poem to tell of the boys emotional state, at the beginning of the work Roethke states, “But I hung on like death:” demonstrating that the boy still loves his father. As the piece continues the author describes sequences of pain but at the end of the work states, “Still clinging to your shirt” this line signifies that even after all of the abuse taken by the boy in the poem he still loves his father. “The hand held my wrist,” “You beat time on my head,” Roethke uses painful imagery to illustrate the fractured relationship between the two characters.
Though the author does not directly state that that father is abusive towards his son, Rothke alludes to violence through imagery. Abusive children are often seen with bruises on their wrist as their parents clench their arm in an effort to “control” their children. Roethke uses this fact to demonstrate to his readers that the son in his work is abused. Furthermore the author also uses words that carry a negative connotation such as battered and scraped, to allude to the sinister meaning behind the poem. The author's diction encapsulated the negative meaning to the poem and allowed the readers to realize abuse was occurring. To continue, Roethke uses the image of a waltz to add an ironic twist to the poem. “My Papa’s Waltz” has a positive connotation as waltzes are viewed by society as graceful dances. However, Roethke uses the image of a waltz to describe a father brutalizing his son. This contrast between the waltz and the content of the poem is ironic due to the graceful nature of the dance but the violent and messy nature of the poems content. Children with abusive parents tend to hid the abuse and the waltz in the story served as the image the family displayed to society, a perfect family, whereas the content of the poem represents the true nature of the
family. “My Papa’s Waltz” threatening tone is a direct reflection of the poem’s characterization and theme. Roethke describes a boy terrorized and abused by his father. This ominous meaning lends itself to an overall disturbing tone. Roethke states, “You beat time on my head” this sentence illustrated the abuse from the father and allowed the readers to learn of the boys turmoil. Furthermore, from the beginning of the poem, Roethke characterizes the boy's father as a high risk individual. The author stated, “The whiskey on your breath” allowing the readers to learn the father was drunk. Abused children are most often dealing with parents under the influence and Rothke used the alcohol as the first indication to abuse. Rothke then further develops the father's character and eventually reveals that the father is in fact abusive towards his son. Finally the subject matter of the poem itself lends itself to the dark theme. The poem’s theme, one of turmoil and abuse also lends a hand to the tone, as the subject matter itself is disturbing. The dark theme coupled with the fathers characterization and the author diction creates a insidious tone and paints an image of a boy in desperate need of help. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” describes the family dynamics between a young boy and his abusive father. The poem looks to examine the concept of family and the idea that no matter what there will always be loved shared between relatives. In Roethke’s piece, even though the narrator is repeatedly abused he does not try to run but instead cling onto the remaining pieces of the pairs shattered connection. The author, through his manipulation of meter and careful diction, illustrated the link between father and son. Roethke looked to use the waltz as a contrast to the true nature of the family and illustrate that, things are not always as they seem. “My Papa’s Waltz” is a complex poem that tries to explain the impossible relationship of family and forgiveness.
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.
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
Roethke’s and Hayden’s poems use tone in the same way to show that both children ultimately love their fathers regardless of the abuse he commits. The young boy in My Papa’s Waltz is clearly very fond of his father even though his Papa abuses him. It is through the tone the young boy uses that Roethke shows how much he loves his father. This is first enforced when the boy says, “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke, 3-4). The boy loves his father and he h...
Ultimately, the subject of “ My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “ My Papa’s Waltz” to illustrate on a past memory of his drunk and abusive father. The controversy of the poem itself is whether it is a good or bad memory. The use of negative imagery, syntax, and diction support this. Overall, with the explanation of the poem and the use of syntax, diction and imagery “ My Papa’s Waltz” was about Theodore Roethke’s drunk and abusive
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.
Roethke’s poem has a regular rhyme scheme that can be expressed as “abab”. The only exception to this scheme would be the first stanza as the words “dizzy” (2) and “easy” (4) are slant rhymes. Only the end syllables of the two words sound the same. As a result, the use of a consistent “abab” rhyme scheme allows the poem to reflect the
Fong, Bobby. College Literature. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Vol. 17 of Roethke's `My Papa's Waltz'. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .
For example, the first two lines of the poem read: "The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy;" (Roethke 668). This excerpt appears to set a dark sort of mood for the entire rest of the poem. By the first two lines, the reader may already see how this man feels about his father's drunkenness. It seems as if Roethke has preceded his poem with this factor in order to demonstrate the resentment that he feels toward his father.
Child abuse is physical mistreatment that unfortunately happens to children everywhere around the world. In the same way, the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, describes and gives the readers an insight of what child abuse is like. The poem presents a relationship between a drunken father and his son. Therefore, the setting, sensory details, and word choice of the poem allows the reader to understand the violence the little boy goes through after his father returns from work.
In the poem My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, there seems to be two conflicting tones at play. There is a tone of love and admiration that is seen through the eyes of an innocent child, but there is also the tone of an experienced man who is looking back on his childhood and is finally acknowledging the harshness with which he was treated and the helplessness he felt.
My Papa's Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, is a poem about an abusive father from the perspective of his child. The poem has a bit of violence and mature themes that give it a dark tone. However, this dark tone is hidden by a lighter tone given by simple rhymes and diction. The theme of the waltz also gives this poem its lighter tone, as the dance is elegant, simple, and innocent. Overall, this poem uses its structure to create a poem which seems simple upon a first listening, but demonstrates deeper meanings and themes when further analyzed.
Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa's Waltz”, uses cryptic language to convince the reader that the child does not encounter abuse from his father, just a drunken dance.
Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" is about a relationship between a father and his son. Beginning with the title, the author's meticulous choice of voca...
Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” depicts a boy who is reminiscing days gone by; he recalls one specific night when he was “waltzing” with his father. Like all literary works, poetry is open to interpretation. Every line of a poem affects each individual reader in a unique and personal way. Authors of poetry use this particular style of writing to express deep-seeded emotions. Readers can interpret a piece of literature emotion based on what is common in that time period of society. Readers can also relate to these emotions based on their own life experiences. With how common child abuse was in that time period and even today’s society, some view this poem as an innocent moment of bonding between father and son, but others see it
After reading the lines “whiskey on [his] breath” and “could make a small boy dizzy” we get a vision that a father is coming home so intoxicated that the “small boy” can barely talk to his father without getting dizzy from the smell. Some more words that give us a series of images are “my mother’s countenance” and “could not unfrown itself.” In line seven, “countenance” means appearance or facial expression. Knowing that definition helps us, the readers, see that the mother is truly sad and she cannot “unfrown” her face. In lines nine and ten, Roethke writes “the hand that held my wrist” and “was battered on one knuckle.” Most people infer that Roethke is suggesting abuse because of the use of the word “battered.” “Battered” means to damage by beating which leads the readers to think that “My Papa’s Waltz” is about intentional abuse. After reading the context of the poem, we can infer that the father used his hands are “battered” because of his job. The use of the imagery described above helps us, the readers, understand the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”