Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

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Abuse or Love? Theodore Roethke let the interpretation of his poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” up to his readers. Some believe this poem is one of a cheerful relationship between a son and his father. Other individuals are convinced that this poem has a concealed essence of parental harm. In my interpretation of the poem, the imagery, language, symbolism, and tone give me the intuition of great love between father and son. “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that reveals joyous memories an adult man holds and cherishes of his father from long ago, even with situations where his father had been drinking. These blissful memories are expressed through uses of imagery and language, with words such as “waltzing” (line 4), “romped” (line 5), and “clinging to your shirt” (line 16) to show the boys love and inability to let go or be separated from not only his father but his best friend. The author gives the persona of not only a loving and playful father but a very hardworking man. …show more content…

He shows this in the third stanza, when the narrator recalls features like “battered on one knuckle” (line 10), and that his ear was “scraped by a buckle” (line 12). He continues to describe this in the fourth stanza by adding that his fathers “palm [was] caked hard with dirt” (line 14). The images this son holds of his father clearly insinuates a hard working man who just came home from a long day at work and was enjoying time with his son before he had to put him down to bed. These memories answer the question on whether this was love or abuse; considering enjoyable remembrances wouldn't come from a child hood of mistreatment or assault in any

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