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A life changing event
A life changing event
Significant experiences that changes my life
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What I Am Writing: Portraying The Life Through the Works Every person has had a significant moment in their life in which they can state is the reason for a change in the way they’re living: a moment that has influenced the person greatly in many different aspects of life. If it wasn’t for “this” there would be no “that” type of significant life experience. Many of the occurrences we experience in our lifetime often seem minute in significance, but may become very relevant at a later date. We rarely can predict how a situation will affect and shape our lives until after it occurs and takes its place in history. Afterwards we are able to trace back to that situation and gain a clear understanding of it and its importance. All of this is more so popular with writers than anyone else, they tend to use past experiences in their life to give their works more authenticity in describing their picture. There are very few aspects that contrast their work to their actual lives. Can a writer’s life and experiences predict and/or validate their works? The child/ parent relationship that is portrayed by Kincaid, Lorde, and Roethke in “Girl, “From the House of Yemanjá”, and “My Papa’s Waltz” is closely related to the relationship they experienced with their parents. These poems show much relevance between the writers and the relationship they shared with their parents, each one in its own special way. I feel that conscience writing is the subconscious thoughts of a person. Since writing is a way of expressing yourself and how you feel, there come times while writing you express those things in which you don’t want to actually speak and say. Writing about the situation becomes an outlet, a way for the person to vent, but with out h... ... middle of paper ... ...y are required to be close to need to hold on to each other throughout the steps of the dance. The father was most likely happy and overjoyed to be home with his son and decided to romp/ dance with the child. The liquor could have been a partner to the decision to waltz. Never at any time does Roethke infer or say that the child was scared or showed fear, this is a major factor. Also the child never tries to get out of his fathers grasp. Roethke father could have been this guy of father and caused this memory to surface in his memory. This may have been one of his fathers’ ways of showing affection. The poem is filled with energy and emotion. There is a caution, odd and ambivalent closeness to his drunken papa that Roethke feels in the poem but may never literally say. This is mainly just a reflection that he explains thought very descriptive and seesaw like wording.
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...
In his recollection, Roethke's father comes home drunk after a hard day of work. The young boy and his father decide to partake in a little dance. While waltzing, the two get a little rambunctious with each other. As a result, some people view this poem with a disdainful-like perception and suppose Theodore wrote the poem with dark thoughts in mind. Rather, despite his father's drunkenness, the young Theodore enjoyed every second of it. There is a strong bond between them that upon careful examination, one can clearly understand in the poem "My Papa's Waltz."
"We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf" (5-6). In numerous poems different readers vista a variety of ways to interpret what poems actually mean. This is very much true in Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz." The quote mentioned has caused many misconceptions about what the poem; "My Papa's Waltz" actually refers to. The two superior interpretations of critics are that Roethke's poem describes abuse or a dance. The abuse seems much more apparent in "My Papa's Waltz" because of the language that Roethke uses. The dance is interpreted because the boy is innocent and knows nothing else therefore the abuse seems normal. The drunkenness of his Papa, the mother's ignorance, and the way the child describes his abuse are very clear interpretations of mistreatment in Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz."
“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a representation of the journey toward reconciliation of the love and the fear that the speaker, a young boy, has for his father, and is an extended metaphor for the way that we balance the good and bad in our lives. Whilst reading this poem it is impossible to determine definitively whether it is truly about a dance or if the speaker is actually being abused. However, I don’t believe that it really matters either way. Actually, I believe it is this ambiguity and push and pull between the two extremes that creates the overall sense of struggle that comes with the reconciliation of the facets of the father and son’s relationship. This dance between love and fear is accentuated by Roethke’s use of ambiguous diction, end rhyme, and iambic trimeter.
While one reading of My Papa’s Waltz creates visions of a warm home and a cheerful family, a deeper reading creates a story of fear, abuse, and the effects of alcoholism. Roethke’s poem sends an important message about abuse. Victims of abuse often hide behind a happy, healthy visage, although the signs of abuse are glaring. My Papa’s Waltz shows how easy it is for victims of abuse to hide the truth of the horrors they face. Therefore, the poem sends the message that it is always important to keep a vigilant watch for the signs of abuse, for even the happiest tales can have darker
Notably, the denotation “romping” can mean, “to play roughly and energetically” (Google), but it can also have a connotation that the boy is hurt or in pain. Furthermore, stanza two also mentions the “mother’s countenance/ could not unfrown itself” (7- 8) which is unusual in the description of playing. While the father and son are playing, the mother is standing aside frowning. Her unhappiness contrasts the playful description of the waltz, which gives the poem its sense of seriousness. In other words, it tells the reader that there is much more happening here than the father and son playing. The drunkenness of the father has caused him to become careless and rough with the boy. The mother is clearly unhappy about the situation, but only watches as the two continue their
“My Papa’s Waltz” is composed of four stanzas with four lines in each stanza. Each line is similar in length and the same number of rhymes. In each stanza, there are rhymes or rhymes combined with the first and the third lines or the second and fourth lines. Theodore Roethke’s poem, "My Papa’s Waltz," is often times misunderstood regarding the nature of the relationship between the father and son. Without having any prior knowledge of Roethke’s relationship with his father it is difficult to fully understand the meaning of this poem. Judging by the title, the person revealed in these lines is the boy’s father, and the boy is the speaker. The father is drunk on whiskey. He’s drunk to the point that the scent of his breath is too much for the boy. It is hard to decide if he is actually there, as there is nothing actually said between father and son, nor does the father respond to the boy. Rather, his son is possibly just imagining him. The line "I hung on like death" (Roethke 3), suggests that the whiskey is in fact causing the boy to become dizzy. The use of the word “death” so soon in the poem signals the reader that this poem is not merely a joyful memory. Suggesting the boy hung on “like” death is an example of a simile ("My Papa’s Waltz | Literature Folio", n.d., ). Furthermore, the "waltz" of the poem is a metaphor for the relationship between father and son, indicating the struggle between enjoying and fearing his father’s strength. The details used in describing what is taking place in the kitchen shows the pair is creating so much uproar that the pans are falling off the walls. These lines also provide the setting, the kitchen. A great deal of family life is spent in the kitchen – cooking, eating, and now, waltz...
Often I sit at the computer, or with a pen and paper, and I think about what I should write. I reflect on my experiences with life, or with my feelings and emotions. If the subject that I write about is coming from my heart, I could write forever, opposed to something that I do not have interest in like the mating habits of fireflies. I don’t care about how, when, and much less why they procreate. I would always dread having to write a paper for my English class, and it was not until I discovered my own love for poetry that I began to enjoy writing. It was my junior English teacher in San Diego, Howard Estes. He allowed me to open my mind to not only the academic perspective of literature, but also to my own personal connection to this confusing written language. This newfound passion gave me a sort of sixth sense. When I look at something, I not only think about what it means to me, but what it means to the world on a larger scale as opposed to taking everything at face value. Through my own writings, and the writings of others, I have been shaped as a unique individual.
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.
Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” can safely be interpreted in at least two ways. On one hand, it is a poem about a young boy dancing with his father around the family kitchen. The dance is more reckless than graceful and there seem to be a few minor injuries that occur during this dancing. However, it is still a seemingly cheerful experience and any injuries that might occur are merely accidents. On the other hand, this poem can also be seen as one about abuse. The “dance” that the father and son are partaking in is actually a metaphor for the father abusing the young boy. The reason this poem can be seen in both a positive and negative light is because of the mention of alcohol, the mention of beating, and the mother.
It was very regular for his father to return home late at night, with the smell of alcohol all over him, and begin dancing with him. Roethke described his father's hands as “battered on one knuckle” (line 10), which portrays him as a hard working man. The poet and his father "romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf" (line 5-6). His mother didn’t like this and it made her frown. The whole poem illustrates the poet and his father having fun and playing together no matter the circumstances. They loved spending time together even though his father had enough alcohol on his breath “to make a small boy dizzy” (line
I have always had a passion for writing however, I do struggle with it. My weaknesses and strengths are what make my writing style so unique. I struggle with directly writing down my thoughts and feelings. It takes me awhile to develop a good writing flow. Especially if I am not given specific guidelines for the paper. I also have problems with my word choice. Of course, I want my paper to consist of intelligent vocabulary; but I often use words that just do not make sense in the context. Despite my weaknesses I have very many strengths that somewhat balance out my flaws. I have such a creative mind when it comes to writing because I perceive situations in so many different ways. This opens up my choices of exactly how I want to write my paper.
Roethke had so much imagery in “My Papa’s Waltz”, as you are reading it you almost feel like you are watching it through a television screen. In the first stanza he writes “but I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy”. Roethke used his imagery to show the narrator hanging on to his father like they were dancing. The only clue you
The sentence structure and word order of this poem does a good job in channeling our feelings and helps to control what we think of this event. As we look closely to the third and final stanzas, we can find that the author created certain emphasis in the manipulation of the words as we probe for the meaning more thoughtfully. At first glance, these lines show that the boy seems to get hurt by the waltzing. But the last two line provides a clarification from the double meaning the poem represents so far. There is finally a unified resolution to the tension. The word “clinging” as the dancing winds down and the boy is being waltzed off to bed shows affection and love from the boy to his father by not wanting to let go of him. This creates
There are a lot of things that people do to relieve pain, stress and emotions, one of them being writing. Simply writing down their thoughts can be relieving to them and a healthy way to let out anything that they might not want to tell others. Things that influence a person’s writing varies from emotions and their personal experiences. However, these experiences can be hard for some people, which can result in a huge conflict in their writing. Although, sometimes it has a negative connotation, many times it does not necessarily mean that it changes a person 's perspective. Often people learn good things from bad experiences, to prevent others from happening to them as said by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in her story “The Yellow Wallpaper” or