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How does the poet present ideas about parent and child relationships
Metaphors we live by
Interpreting poetry essay
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In My Papa’s Waltz, Roethke uses an extended metopher, but uses different language to describe it as the poem is read. My Papas waltz uses the metaphor of dancing throughout the poem. Everything from the description of the fluidity of the dance to the speakers feeling towards the dance helps create a stronger meaning behind the metaphor. Roethke uses dancing as a metopher for the relationship between the son and the father, according to the son.
In lines 3 and 4, the speaker describes the dancing as difficult, but he pushed through the difficulty. Lines 1 and 2 express one reason why the waltzing may be difficult; the father’s breathe is venomous with the stench of whiskey. Relating this to the relationship between the father and son, lines
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For example, after the pots fall from the shelf because of their dance, Roethke writes “My mother’s countenance/Could not unfrown itself.” Roethke uses stanza two to show that the relationship between the father and son has hit bumps and caused destruction.
Roethke uses stanza 3 to give a description of the fathers actions in their “dance.” Line 10 describes the father’s battered knuckle, which evokes the idea that the father has been fighting, whether it be alcoholism or even the relationship with his son. The father will always be a father but may not have always been a “Papa” to the son. “At every step you missed/My right ear scraped a buckle,” elicits the thought that their “dance” has been toxic for the son, especially when the father messes up.
The last stanza is about the father show the kid the beat to dance to, drawing attention to his dirt caked palms. This stanza gives the reader a sense of hope, showing that the father has been educational to the son, not just destructive. In the end the father brings the son to bed, while the son still clings to his shirt. The last line shows that the son has always tried to keep the father close throughout their relationship, even though both instances he can only hold on by his
The poem imaginatively re-creates a childhood encounter with his father. It may be read as an uplifting memory of a happy day, however when one engages further into investigating Roethke’s work, a darker perspective of the event emerges (Bachelorandmaster, 2015). Although we cannot identify that this poem is explicitly about his father from just simply reading it, when deeply exploring Roethke’s relationship with his father further, it can be identified that both the poem and relationship are connected in this way. The story conveys both the fathers love for the son and the son’s fear of this overpowering event, a combination which explains why the poem haunted so many of it’s readers (Shmoop,
However, neither the setting of the poem nor its events can be linked to the ballrooms where people dance waltz. The opening lines of the poem portray the narrator’s father as a drunken person “The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy”. The dancer is anything but elegant, he doesn’t waltz gracefully but romps “until the pans/Slid from the kitchen shelf”. The poem is set in a family home, most likely in the kitchen. Thus, the narrator is trying to downplay the social connotati...
"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."
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
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
When one becomes a father, he undertakes many responsibilities: setting a positive example, enforcing discipline for misbehavior, overviewing the safety of his children, providing a loving atmosphere, and numerous other tasks. In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” the narrator reminisces on the memories of his “papa” through the metaphor of an aggressive “waltz.” Using descriptions of the father’s actions and the reactions of the mother, Roethke illustrates the situation with carefully selected vocabulary. These actions of the narrator’s “papa” can be interpreted as either positive and loving or as inappropriate and unnecessary. After a brief analysis of the poem, readers might assume that the narrator’s memories of his father reflect Using a strand of harsh words including “beat,” “scraped,” “battered,” and “whiskey,” the narrator suggests an idea of a harsh relationship despite any fond memories that were discussed.
The poem opens with a son talking about his father’s alcoholism, describing that the amount of whiskey his father drank “could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke) with the effects of alcohol. The figurative dance with addiction is not easy for the boy, but he still “hung on like death” (Roethke), hoping for a brighter outcome. The father and son are in the kitchen, where the amount of the father’s drunken, physical abuse on the child causes pans to fall from kitchen shelves (Roethke). The boy’s mother, however, can only stand to the side and watch the events unfold with a “countenance [that] could not unfrown itself” (Roethke). The boy’s father grabs him by the wrist with a “battered...knuckle” (Roethke). With this interpretation in mind, the cause of the father’s rough hands becomes unclear. His hands could still be rough from a hard day of work, or perhaps his abusive nature has ended with injuries on his hands. The amount of alcohol consumed by the father causes him to stumble, or miss steps, according to the speaker. As the physical abuse continues, the child states he is “still clinging to [his father’s] shirt” (Roethke). This last line hints that, although the father is an abusive drunk, the child still loves his father and clings to this love with the hope that someday things will improve for his
" Certainly, this small boy's family life has its frightening side, but the last line suggests the boy is still clinging to his father with persistent if also complicated love" (Kennedy and Gioia 668). Although their dance appears to be "comic", Roethke seems to possess "an odd and ambivalent closeness" to his apparently intoxicated father (Balakian 62). Still, even more evidence of these mixed feelings is illustrated in the third stanza. "This love dance, a kind of blood rite between father and son, shows suppressed terror combined with awe-inspired dependency" (Balakian 62).
The music that I listened to showed how the poem starts slow and then gets suspenseful because of the child being clingy to the father for his attention. The father is an alcoholic who loves his son but can get out hand because of the alcohol in his system this is shown by the diction in the poem. Roethke is drawing in the readers with the flow of words and illustrating an image in your head to be in the moment such as "With a palm baked hard by dirt." The mother in all this is not happy but is waltzing for her child to be happy to see his father coming home from work. The mother is trying to make the experience for her child
For instance, “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle" (9-10) the word battered in line 10 is being used at a sadistic state and that can conduct the readers to think that the father grabbed the child's wrist vigorously. Then, the next two lines it states "At every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle" (11-12) that can indicate that he used a belt to beat the child because the word buckle can be relevant to a belt. The fourth stanza says "You beat time on my head" (13) that can mean that the dad hit his son’s head several times. Furthermore, it reads "With a palm caked hard by dirt then waltzed me off to bed" (14-15) these two lines prove that the father was convincing himself and the reader that it's only a dance that leads to "Still clinging to your shirt" (16) that can imply that he was still grabbing on to him before he went to
The confusion of the son is shown in diction when the potent “whiskey” on the breath of his father makes him “dizzy”. Although the boy is dancing with his father, the poem becomes more solemn with the diction of clinging on “like death” and describing the dancing as “not easy”. The reasoning of the boy is slipping into uncertainty and disarray just as the “pans slid from the kitchen shelf”. The mother is watching with a “countenance” that “could not unfrown itself” because she desires to help but could potentially be afraid that the father will turn his drunken wrath on her; therefore she watches, despondent and
Additionally, in stanza two, the author writes that he and his father “romped until pans [fell] from the kitchen shelf,” illustrating the violence present in the relationship. Further, the author immediately writes that his “mother’s countenance [c]ould not unfrown itself,”painting a picture that she is also aware of abuse. In addition to the author’s mother being aware of abuse, Roethke emphasizes the hand that held his wrist is “battered” and “palm caked hard by dirt.” Although the imagery in “My Papa’s Waltz” is essential to the meaning of the poem, diction also plays a significant
As the poem progresses the child notes, “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle [...] you beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt” (Roethke 13). Roethke’s diction and imagery indicate violence within the family. This quote serves as a metaphor for the violence experienced by the child. The father’s battered knuckle indicates the possible abuse of the child. Furthermore, the narrator indicates that the child is constantly beat on the head. The word “time” may indicate that the abuse is more than just a one time event, it happens constantly. The description of the father, however, shows the exact opposite. The hand “caked by dirt” shows a hard-working parent, possibly working to provide a good life for his child. The juxtaposition between the metaphorical abuse and hard-working life of the father serves to emphasize the non genuine side of alcoholism. Roethke’s use of imagery and diction show how alcohol brings out the impurities and lack of self control in life. In reality, the father works to better his child, but as a result of alcohol he loses self control, and ultimately, begins to abuse his family. The alcohol brings out a side of the father that he does not wish to be. Evidence of abuse is also shown through the addition of the mother in the poem. As the father waltzes with the child, the narrator notices the mother’s saddening facial expressions. Joseph Schaub notes, “As the mother watches the two dance, her frown indicates the anxiety and sadness that affects the entire family” (Schaub 1). Schaub indicates that the mother’s facial expression is an extension of the abuse experienced by the entirety of the family. The mother’s facial expression is important in showing the severity of the abuse. Just as expressed earlier, Roethke uses the alcoholism of the father to show how its personal effects can affect those around the user.
...s his father tucks him into bed. He reflects on their lives. They have had their ups and downs, their struggles and their victories, and all the way his strong hand has held onto him tightly and never let him go. And Theodore has hung on to his father noticing that even though his knuckle was battered, he still didn’t let go of him. He writes that every step Papa missed it hurt him too. He doesn’t care if his ear scraped the buckle, he is just glad to be along for the ride. He is proud of his father and his legacy. With the image of his Papa waltzing off to bed the little boy is still clinging to his shirt. With this image he is letting the reader know that not only does is he proud of his father and all that he taught him in the short time he was with him, but he is clinging onto his memory every day.
The poet is led around the house, dancing – not beaten around. Which is also brought throu by the meter – trecet iamb – the beat of the waltz, thus the main image is shown through the meter as well, giving the reader more of the feeling of a dance in contrast to the ‘secondery images’ which are more associated with the rough experience of a beating. Given such parameters the poet installs some sort of relaxation in the reader (maybe even in himself), in order to make the subject – the beating – more readable, and lessening the effect of the drunkenness and the beatings, making his father more human. By this dance metaphor the whole routine of the beating is messeged. The drunken father, his breath “Could make a small boy dizzy”, yet the boy hangs “on like death”. The word death is important, usualy the word death, in love poems, shows truthfullness and undesputable love, as in marriage one promises to love to death, to never leave even if what is left is just a memory – as happens in this poem. The boy will love his father to end; although, a great bitterness remains in the memory – the drunkenness, failure (“every step you missed”), and the beating deriving from these failure and drunkenness. For each failure ” My right ear scraped a buckle ” – The boy is accused for his father’s failures. Another way in which the love to the father is shown is the way in which the father is