...Janessa Dirawatun CRN 15732 Poetry (1) The Current Motions William Stafford’s poem “Ask Me” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are two literary poems that use characteristics of everyday things to identify the emotion of the characters. Stafford’s piece expresses his life through the form of a river, while Roethke explains the relationship between a father and a son through a dance. The reader can depict how both authors use the movements of a river and a dance to express their inner-feelings. In Stafford’s poem, the river currents are understood to express life’s intermediate changes between highs and lows, through the past, present, and future. Roethke describes the Waltz between the father and son as a persistent movement that signifies both the emotional and physical issues that lie within their relationship. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Ask Me” are similar through the complexity of emotions that the narrator goes through by using the key elements imagery, symbolism, and tone. These two literary pieces purposely run through the mix of emotions to change the reader’s perception of the poem from the beginning till the end. Throughout both literary poems, the authors provide imagery through words that have visual representation but very little description. The reader is taken into a state of mind where they can paint a picture in their head of what scenery the narrator is in. The imagery throughout the poems is important because they reflect the overall emotion of the poem...
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...The relationship between a father and son is one of the most important things a child can have. A good relationship with one’s father results in a more stable life and mindset. Both My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke and Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden display father and son relationships. These poems have complications in the relationship between the two, but My Papa’s Waltz is a more negative complication. Those Winter Sundays shows more of a misunderstanding from the son’s point of view. Negative complications help emphasise how important a healthy relationship between a father and son is. My Papa’s Waltz shows a conflicting relationship between father and son. The boy seems to love his father. This is evidenced by the boy...
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...“My Papa’s Waltz” “Recalling days of sadness, memories haunt me. Recalling days of happiness, I haunt my memories”. Many childhood memories are remembered as fun and joyful, the time without a care in the world. The speaker, which is the young boy in Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz”, recalls a time out of his childhood that involved him and his father during family time at home one evening. A strong bond of love and playfulness between father and son is shown thru Roethke’s recollection of personal childhood memories. The poem takes place at the family’s home on a quiet evening. The father comes home after a hard day’s work which is where Roethke states, “With a palm caked hard by dirt” (line 14) suggests that the father is a blue collar hard working man who provides for his family and puts the food on the table every night. Since he works so much and does not want to come home bitter and exhausted and complain about his long day, he rewards himself with a bit of alcohol. The speakers reveals, “The whiskey on your breath, Could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). One might get the impression that the father came home drunk out of his mind, but what those two lines say to me is after having a drink or two, or maybe he drank at home, he was in such a good mood that he started waltzing with his son. Also since the father was such a hard worker and most likely was a big fellow, his son mentions the whiskey breath which would be too strong for him but does not make him seem...
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..."My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke is one of my favorite poems. It is one that gives each reader different emotion and interpretation. “My Papa’s Waltz” was written in a first person narrative and provides rhythm and symbolism. This poem displays a very relatable storey about the relationship between a son and his father. It has a known rhythm that brings to mind the type of dance that is symbolized in the title. Recognizing the character was easy because the author used “I” for first person narrative which helps the reader to communicate to what the author was intending his reader to understand. Roethke used the introduction of the poem to set the tone and setting for the story to follow. “The whiskey on your breath” Roethke T. (1942) was the first verse entry and immediately the reader can feel for the little boy thinking of what it would be like to have a drunken father. The method in which the poem is written opens the door of vagueness regarding the father’s state. The child's father was seen as being forceful to his son; while the son is frightened of his father drunkenness. The author wanted his reader to understand that whatever frame of mind a parent is in they have all the power and the child has to obey. It’s clear that the author wanted to provoke his reader with bit of remembrance of truthfulness by constructing the poem in first person narrative. The mention of the father and son romping around the room may seem rather harmless however the dance...
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...we interpret different situations, Theodore Roethke wrote a poem titled “My Papa’s Waltz.” This poem has a multitude of differing interpretations. For example, those of us who grew up with a terrible childhood might think of a boy being abused by his father; however, others who enjoyed their childhood memories with their father may interpret the poem to be about a father and son having fun together while dancing. While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” to help his readers to visualize the abusive relationship between a father and his son. In fact, the imagery, word choice, and syntax that Roethke provides readers points to abuse. Roethke purposefully chooses words with negative connotations. Instead, most people would consider his diction bone-chilling or depressing. One example of negative language the author uses in the poem is,“But I hung on like death.” The author could’ve chosen a much kinder metaphor, one that sets a happy tone; instead, he chooses to compare “dancing” with his father something deadly. This kind of diction leads...
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...Theodore Roethke is the author of the poem titled "My Papa's Waltz." Roethke is the speaker in the poem and is talking to his father. As he goes through the poem, he talks about the abuse, his mother's reaction, how he could not let go because the man was his father, and how he seems to have mixed feelings about his relationship with him. The author used interesting word choices to make the poem have multiple meanings depending on how someone would interpret it. The first-person speaker and his father have a complex relationship surrounded by an abusive relationship and a mixture of love and fear, yet the speaker does not resent his father. Throughout the poem the father abuses the son, the speaker. Lines 5 and 6 could be interpreted to say the father is being excessively violent towards the son which causes pans to fall off shelves. Lines 9 and 10 also seem to allude to the fact the father hits his son by mentioning the "battered knuckle." A child would be scared to be hit especially if it is their own father and the child is young as he says in the poem. Line 13 says "you beat time on my head." This line could be seen as anytime the speaker was late he would get hit in the head by his father. While the son faces the abuse of his father, he does not appear to...
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...to a poem ENG 125 October 29, 2012 "My Papa's Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke, is a fascinating poem. It is one that provokes its reader to have different emotion and interpretation. “My Papa’s Waltz” was written in first person narrative and provides tons of rhythm and symbolism. This poem displays a moment in the life of a father and son. “My Papa’s Waltz” has a known rhythm that brings to mind the type of dance that is symbolized in the title. Recognizing the character was easy because the author used “I” for first person narrative which endorsed the reader to communicate to what Roethke, the author was intending for his reader to understand passionately. Roethke used the introduction of the poem to set the tone and setting for the story to follow. “The whiskey on your breath” was the first entry verse. Immediately, it reminded me of a familiar story my wife shares about her childhood. The method in which the poem is written opens the door of vagueness regarding the father true state of mind. The child's father appeared as being forceful to his son while the son is frightened by his father drunkenness. The author wanted his reader to understand that whatever the frame of mind a parent is in, they have all the power and the child has to obey. It is clear that the author wanted to provoke his reader with a bit of remembrance of truthfulness by constructing the poem in a first person narrative. The father also has power over his wife who does nothing to stop...
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...My papa's waltz poem Some language and images present a possibility of the presence of “violence” in my papa's waltz poem. For instance, the two opening lines establish drunkenness. There is also the suggestion of physical injuries to the boy such as his scraped ear supposedly caused by his father’s buckle. The portrayal of physical violence in the poem comes through the presentation of the father’s bruised knuckle suspiciously thought to be a result of a barroom brawl. The expectations of a father and a son depend on the relationship between the two. It is a tight connection that regardless of instances of roughness a never has the wish of losing the parent. The complications in the poem result from the memories of childhood presented by Roethke, which portray the hardships of growing up in a broken home and with an abusive father. However, there is the difficulty in making the differentiation of the imagery and symbolism used to determine the presence of happiness and sadness between the father and the son. There is no truth regarding physical abuse presented in the poem. The time of the authorship of the poem is clearly out of the period where there was any clear elaboration of child abuse. The reference made to the father as “papa” is an indication of affection between the father and the son. This rules out any instance of violence introducing the use of the word “beat” as an action for the movement of the dancer’s feet as they waltz. At the same time...
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...Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” is a quatrain poem about a memory of a boy waltzing with his father. The speaker is now a grown man writing this as a memory. In the poem, he relates his relationship with his father to a "waltz." The author's childhood unfolds as the "waltz" is performed. In this performance, the diction the author uses allows the reader to have many perspectives of the poem. This poem can be viewed in two ways. One way to look at this poem is that the young boy is having fun with his father waltzing. Some, on the other hand, believe this is a poem about rough housing his son. There are examples for both agreements throughout the poem. I can clearly see the positive loving side of the son in admiration to his faulty father. This poem was written in the 1940’s which remains a controversial decade that created the welfare state, bred a culture of immorality and self-indulgence. Young adults urged people to explore alternative patterns of work and domesticity. They disputed paths to deeper fulfillment, even those involving illicit drugs, could be justified, believing they were creating a new America. Taking that into account, Roethke’s father character is more understood being from this time period. When Theodore was only fourteen, his father passed, leaving him with a wound and a sense of dissatisfaction that he was able to relieve only near the end of his life being a major American 20th century poet. Although Roethke’s father and his son cherished each other...
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...Such Waltzing Was Not Easy The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke portrays a father/son relationship between the narrator and his father who died of cancer when Roethke was in high school. Most readers would presume that the little boy admired his father, despite his faulty qualities, alcohol being the most prominent one, and wrote this as a tribute to him. The first stanza provides the readers with an image of the boy being content while waltzing with his father, no matter the circumstances: The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. The first stanza shows us that the little boy craves his father’s attention, and enjoys the time he has with him. However, as...
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...My Papa’s Waltz Poetry Analysis “My Papa’s Waltz” is a light-heartedly written poem with an uneasy undertone. The poem was written by Theodore Roethke, a man who suffered depression and other mental illnesses due to his abusive father’s death. His poems reflect his mental illnesses and focus on childhood memories. This particular poem was written to bring awareness to child abuse. Roathke is able to accomplish this through the strategic use of double meanings, literary devices, and abusive diction. He channels his recollection of his father to bring the reader a chaotic, dark, and frightening scene. With the use of double meanings, Roathke is able to paint a disorganized picture, all while using words that have typically traditionally graceful...
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...The poems “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are similar and yet drastically different poems. The poems are similar because they share a main theme. The main theme is the two speakers of the poems are remembering their fathers. Both of the fathers in the poem seem to some many similarities, but for the most part are very different Individuals. Firstly, in the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the speaker describes his father and himself dancing. The speaker alludes that the poem is a memory from his child hood. Implied in the lines "The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke lines 1-2). More importantly he depicts his father as an alcoholic. Unlike the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” where there is no mention of alcohol. Furthermore the speaker’s perspective is son or daughter reminiscing the things the father did for him or her as a child....
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...In “My Papa’s Waltz”, written by Theodore Roethke, a child struggles with his father’s alcoholic nature. The first stanza remains innocent in its nature, as the child attempts to keep up with his father’s dancing and refuses to let go. Begging in the second stanza, the poem seems to take a more violent turn which is evident through Roethke’s diction. The melodic rhythm and title, “My Papa’s Waltz,” suggest a dance between father and son which could serve as both a literal dance and a dance of life. Roethke’s first stanza acknowledges the father’s drinking habits and the effects that they have on his son. Because Roethke states that “the whiskey on [the father’s] breath could make a small boy dizzy,” readers become aware of the state of drunkenness...
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...2015 “My Papa’s Waltz” The whiskey on your breath; Could make a small boy dizzy; judging by the title, the person addressed in these lines is the small boy's father, and the small boy is our speaker. The father has been drinking whiskey, and not just a little. He's so drunk that even the smell of his breath could make a small boy, like his son, feel a bit woozy. These lines show that the poem will address the father in the second person, referring to him as "you." But we don't think he's actually there with the boy because, after all, we hear nothing back from the man. Instead, his son is probably just thinking about talking to him. But I hung on like death; this line indicates that the whiskey is indeed making our speaker quite dizzy because he has to hang on like death, perhaps the one thing that hangs on to us all. Using the word "death" so early in the poem clues the reader in that this poem isn't just a happy memory – it's also haunted. Saying that the boy hung on "like" death is an example of a simile. Such waltzing was not easy; this line wraps up the first stanza. In what could be a happy moment, father and son dancing, we see that it's kind of tricky for the son to hold on to his drunken father. Also, if the waltz of this poem is a metaphor for their father-son relationship, this could show that it's not easy to dance between loving and fearing his father's power. We romped until the pans; Slid from the kitchen shelf; this is not a quiet, stately waltz, but a...
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...My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke This poem has a kept form. Even at a glance, it has a set form. It consists of four quatrains, each line being an iambic tritameter. The poem is about a young boy waltzing with his father. One can assume that the speaker is a young boy, or perhaps the poet reminiscing his youth. The father dances around in a haphazard manner, knocking over pans in the kitchen. Upon first glance, the tone is humorous. The picture one immediately forms is rather comical with the boy clinging on for dear life as his chuckling father spins him round and round, making a mess in the kitchen while the mother looks on discontentedly. However, the line, "whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy" suggests the father's drunkedness and "at every step you missed my right ear scraped buckle" suggests the dance was not an altogether joyful one. Lines such as "hung on like death", and "beat time on my head" are might even lead the reader to think the father is abusive of the boy. Indeed, the satirical tone of this poem suggests that the speaker is somewhat critical of his father. The whiskey smell, the roughness, the inconsiderate and reckless actions are under scrutiny. The mother's frowning countenance suggests she too is rather unhappy with the scene. However, the winning tone of the poem is the light and comical one. The constant rhythm throughout the poem gives it a light beat, like a waltz; the reader feels like s/he is dancing. The rhyme pattern of...
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