My Papa’s abuse
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a very popular poem, written in 1948. The poem is an example of iambic trimeter and it is made up of four quatrains. The subjects of the poem include the small boy,who is the speaker, the father, and the mother for a brief line. According to Gioia and Kennedy, many people believe that Roethke uses the poem to showcase his attitude towards his father. The theme that is apparent in the poem would be centered around family dynamics and how alcoholism plays a role in those dynamics.
One way they were able to discuss Roethke’s view on his father was to include two different ways of looking at his attitude: one being critical but affectionate and the other being resentful towards his father. While
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those who focus more on Roethke’s bitterness towards his father, they forget the humor that is supposed to be there. Nonetheless, the poem itself can be considered dark humor, as the author compares the abuse to dancing. The tone Roethke uses can be described as being”grotesquely comic”(2) .
The author’s use of imagery help put together the overall tone of the poem. The speaker describes hanging onto his father in stanza one. In stanza two, their stomping around knocked the pans off the shelf. The third stanza seems dark compared to the first two stanza. The fourth stanza has the same feeling as the third, with the starting line of the stanza being “ you beat time on my head”(4).
Roethke uses imagery throughout the poem. The poem starts out with describing the speaker, who we find out is a small boy,smelling the whiskey on his father’s breath, which makes him dizzy. Roethke also use imagery in the second stanza, “We romped until the pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf/ My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself “(2)
Roethke’s humor is found in the his use of rhyme. He uses slant rhyme and exact rhyme in each stanza. The end rhyme scheme is ABAB. His use of slant rhyme is apparent in the first stanza when rhymes the word “dizzy” from the end of line two with the word “easy” at the end of line four. Another example of the rhyme scheme is he rhymes the word “knuckle” at the end of line ten with “buckle” at the end of line twelve.
(1) Roethke uses short line structure to reinforce that the speaker is a child. Roethke wants the reader to identify more so with the child than with the adults in the poem. The term “papa” is usually used by children. Roethke also wants the reader to know that the poem is an adults flashback to his childhood.He uses the word “countenance,” a term a child usually would not know. The poem’s diction makes the child’s fear during the experience. The child is fearful for his life. At the end of the ordeal, he is clinging on to his father. The title of the poem,”My Papa's Waltz,” is a form of irony. A waltz is usually seen as a formal dance. Roethke compares his father’s drunken, abusive routine to that of a waltz. The waltz is also considered a metaphor for abuse. In the last stanza, “You beat time on my head/ With a palm caked hard by dirt/ Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt,” talks about the speaker’s father beating him and then sending him to bed. Roethke uses other figurative language besides metaphor in his poem. In line three he uses a simile, “But I hung on like death,” making it as though he is in a life or death situation. The entire poem is centered around one major symbol:violence. After rereading the poem, the father and son dancing around the house is seen as a symbol for violence. Violence is also a symbol for the relationship between father and son. The abuse towards the child does not necessarily appear until the third stanza. The first stanza does say that the whiskey on the father makes the boy dizzy, but there is no act of violence.
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 major themes of the poem reflect the poet's own inner life and his struggle with the loss of his father. Through this complicated and intricate poem the inner feelings of the poet are made manifest through the speaker's tone towards the father. The exchange between father and son represents a magical moment in the speaker's childhood: dancing the waltz with his father. In the second stanza, the poet comments “My mother's countenance / could not unfrown itself (Roethke 7-8).” Here the poet seems to regret the fact that he hoarded his father's time after a long day at work, when his father could have been s...
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 ...
One of the ways Roethke has described the abusive relationship is through the use of verbs. To set the stage of the night, Roethke starts off the poem by saying, “The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy;” (line 1-2), which implies that his father has drank a lot. Roethke has used several verbs in the poem to describe what is going on, which give off a very violent vibe. Roethke used, “hung”, “held”, “scraped”, “beat”, and “clinging” to show us the abuse he suffered. The order in which the verbs have been positioned is interesting too. It is Roethke who “hung” on to his father, “scraped” his
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 ...
These near rhymes reinforce the idea that Roethke is only barely in control of himself and the poem, but the strongly rhyming last couplet of each stanza pulls the poem and the reader away from formlessness. As a final seal on the idea that to endure this kind of psychic torment is to break through into a new kind of reality, the last two lines of the poem, the ones which in each stanza had borne a strong rhyme, themselves yield to near rhyme (“mind” and “wind”). It is as if the poet is telling his readers that they thought they had his poem figured out, but that they do not. To experience fully the reality that the poet is describing, it is necessary to see things in a totally new
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
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
When reading a story or a poem, readers tend to analyze, and develop their own opinions. Any content an author or poet produces is up to the reader to question, and identify what the story is trying to say. The point that I am stating is that, stories are like maps that we readers need to figure out. We have to find the starting point, and get to the destination of our conclusion, and the thoughts we have about the story or poem. In the stories that we have read so for throughout the semester, they all have different messages of what they are trying to convey to the reader in a way that can be relatable. Among all the author’s and poet’s works we have read, I have enjoyed Theodore Roethke’s poems. Roethke has developed poems that explore emotions that readers can relate to. I would like to explain and interpret the themes that Theodore Roethke expresses in the poems “My Papa’s Waltz”, “The Waking”, and “I Knew a Woman”.
“Roethke was a great poet, the successor to Frost and Stevens in modern American poetry, and it is the measure of his greatness that his work repays detailed examination” (Parini 1). Theodore Roethke was a romantic who wrote in a variety of styles throughout his long successful career. However, it was not the form of his verse that was important, but the message being delivered and the overall theme of the work. Roethke was a deep thinker and often pondered about and reflected on his life. This introspection was the topic of much of his poetry. His analysis of his self and his emotional experiences are often expressed in his verse. According to Ralph J. Mills Jr., “this self interest was the primary matter of artistic exploration and knowledge, an interest which endows the poems with a sense of personal urgency, even necessity” (Contemporary Authors 476).
The author somewhat implicates feelings of resentment fused with a loving reliance with his father. 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.
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.
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