Jose Santos
English 1102
Dr. Hopkins
6 April 2014
Remembering a Good Father Theodore Roethke was a great American poet in the 20th century. He had a very bad child hood having his father die while Roethke was 12 years old which helped establish his creative side of his life. Roethke also attended the University of Michigan and later attended Harvard. He taught English at some universities but while teaching at the University of Michigan he devolved manic depression which helped fuel his poetic side. In Roethke’s poem “My Papas Waltz” Roethke is remembering his dead father. He is remembering how he and his father would play and rough house when his father would come home. This poem is said to have a dual meaning, but it really depends on the reader’s perspective. The poem was written to show the love Roethke and his father had, he shows it by the imagery, rhyme scheme, similes, metaphors, irony. Roethke’s poem “My papas waltz” has some ambiguity in it towards what it means. The poem is about Roethke remembering his father when he was a child. The poem is meant to be took in a positive way because Roethke’s father was a working man trying to provide for his family, “with a pam caked hard by dirt” shows that his father was a working man (page 583 line 14). The poem can also have a negative meaning to it because of some of the violence taking action in the poem such as “you beat time on my head” (page 583 line 13). The poem depicts some form of child abuse but the poem was not meant to be taken in a violent way. The poet’s intention to writing this poem were positive and loving towards his father. Imagery in this poem is also another important part to helping understand the meaning. The poet describes the father as a hard workingman which helps support the fact that he provided the best way he could. Roethke also has good imagery on how the father