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My papa's waltz by theodore roethke analysis
Analysis of my papa's waltz
“my papa’s waltz” by Theodore Roethke analysis
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Roethke's Use of Tone
Childhood experiences seem to be the ones that are recollected most vividly throughout a person's life. Almost everyone can remember some aspect of his or her childhood experiences, pleasant and unpleasant alike. Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz" suggests even further that this concept could be true. The dance described in this poem illustrates an interaction between father and child that contains more than the expected joyous, loving attitude between the two characters. Roethke's tone in this work exhibits the blended, yet powerful emotions that he, as a grown man, feels when looking back on this childhood experience. The author somewhat implicates feelings of resentment fused with a loving reliance with his father.
For example, the first two lines of the poem read: "The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy;" (Roethke 668). This excerpt appears to set a dark sort of mood for the entire rest of the poem. By the first two lines, the reader may already see how this man feels about his father's drunkenness. It seems as if Roethke has preceded his poem with this factor in order to demonstrate the resentment that he feels toward his father.
However, the last two lines of the poem suggest feelings other than resentment: "Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt" (Roethke 668). By mentioning the fact that his father put him to bed, Roethke seems to show affectionate feelings
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involved in this dance. He shows his caring feelings in the last line by using the words "still clinging". "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 hand that held my wrist/was battered on one knuckle;/ At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle"(Roethke 668). The speaker's father's hand being "battered on one knuckle" is indicative of a man who...
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... quite demonstrative of how
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powerful his feelings for his father must have been. "…Roethke tried, through careful revisions to balance negative and positive tones in 'My Papa's Waltz'" (McKenna 36).
Although the dance between him and his father was rough and aggressive, the very fact that Roethke chose to write about the waltz indicates that it is a special moment he remembers sharing with his father. The poet has a remarkable ability to describe the moment and not his feelings. This is what makes "My Papa's Waltz" so interesting and leaves so much to interpretation.
Works Cited
Balakian, Peter. Theodore Roethke's Far Fields. Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, 1989.
Gioia, Dana, & Kennedy, X. J. (Eds.). (1999). Literature: An Introduction to Fiction,
Poetry, and Drama. 7th Edition. New York, NY: Longman.
McKenna, John J. "Roethke's Revisions and the Tone of 'My Papa's Waltz'". ANQ
Spring 1998: v11n2. Online. Galileo. 21 October 1999.
Roethke, Theodore. "My Papa's Waltz"., Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry,
And Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th Ed. New York, NY:
Longman, 1999. 668.
The most notable qualities of Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are the tone and language of the poem which convey the nostalgia adult author feels thinking about the time spent with his father. In the title narrator’s father is affectionately referred to as “Papa” making the impression that the main character and his father are close. The use of possessive pronoun “my” contributes to the overall impression that the father holds special place in the narrator’s heart. As word “waltz” in the title implies the poem gives account of the festive occasion in which the narrator’s father takes part.
My Papa’s Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, is a poem that has been interpreted in two very different ways. The first interpretation is that the poem is a child’s loving memory of his father who had too much to drink and the second interpretation is a child’s memory of his abusive father. After I read the poem, instead of looking at the two interpretations as completely unalike, I came to believe that both of the interpretations co-existed with each other and were valid. In order to understand why I believed so, it is important to break the poem apart and analyze the speaker, style, tone, and theme of the poem. The speaker of the poem seems to be a son recollecting his memories as a child and the relationship he had with his father. The memory is
In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. Some people assume that this poem is about a happy relationship between a father and son while other people assume that this poem emphasizes hidden messages of parental abuse. In my
Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.
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
father’s childhood, and later in the poem we learn that this contemplation is more specifically
Ultimately, the subject of “ My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “ My Papa’s Waltz” to illustrate on a past memory of his drunk and abusive father. The controversy of the poem itself is whether it is a good or bad memory. The use of negative imagery, syntax, and diction support this. Overall, with the explanation of the poem and the use of syntax, diction and imagery “ My Papa’s Waltz” was about Theodore Roethke’s drunk and abusive
The poem "My Papa's Waltz" uses imagery by especially appealing to the sense of touch. The sense of touch also helps the reader to better understand the abusive father theme. The third stanza concentrates on the actual act of abuse. The author, Roethke, describes the battle wounds on the father and son that are inflicted by the father. The father's hand "was battered on one knuckle" from hitting his son with a belt (10). This is apparent because the son's "right ear scraped...
Theodore Roethke was born on May 25th, 1908. He grew up in Saginaw, Michigan and had a close relationship with his father. Following his father 's death, Roethke wrote many poems about family life. Many believe that “My Papa’s Waltz” is based on true experiences. It was written during the 1940s and differs from most poems. The title of “My Papa’s Waltz” reveals a lot about the contents of the poem. “My” explains the personal relationship told within the story. “Papa’s” shows innocence because this name is common for children to use when speaking about their fathers. “Waltz” refers to a repetitive and fun dance. Roethke used ambiguity to allow the reader to have several outlooks on the poem. The two central themes of the poem are the importance of love within family, and the atrocities of child abuse. Roethke uses imagery, diction, and easy flowing structure to help develop the varying themes.
In Theodore Roethke’s life he encountered the death of his father and his uncle, and I believe he based “My Papa’s Waltz” on his dad. When he was just fourteen years old his father passed away from cancer and this death was dramatic to him and showed throughout his later writings. Bobby Fong said this poem is possibly a “happy memory” that Roethke remembers from this past when his dad and he would “playfully” dance around the kitchen (n.p.). Even if his father had a few drinks in him, because he had a long day at work, the young boy still wanted to do the waltz with his papa. I am sure we all have had a time where we horse played and got bumped around a lot. There has been a good bit of discussion about whether the poem is talking about a father beating his son or just the father and the son horse playing around. In my opinion, I believe that the poem is based on affection of the young boy and his father waltzing around. I get this sense through the author’s use of imagery, word choice, and meter. Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” demonstrates a young boy’s affection for his father’s love, even if that means having to tolerate his father being drunk.
The poem describes Curtis’ father as being an extremely physically strong man, who could ‘punch nails into wood with a clenched fist’. This is obviously not a realistic picture, but it is clear that Curtis admired his father in this aspect. The poem also describes how, when his father came home from work he would ‘stretch his arms, and hang the five sons from them, turning like a roundabout.’ This suggests that despite being a hard-working man, he still had time to pay attention to his children, which is respectable. He seems like a hard-working family man, and a lot of fun.
Family bonds are very important which can determine the ability for a family to get along. They can be between a mother and son, a father and son, or even a whole entire family itself. To some people anything can happen between them and their family relationship and they will get over it, but to others they may hold resentment. Throughout the poems Those Winter Sundays, My Papa’s Waltz, and The Ballad of Birmingham family bonds are tested greatly. In Those Winter Sundays the relationship being shown is between the father and son, with the way the son treats his father. My Papa’s Waltz shows the relationship between a father and son as well, but the son is being beaten by his father. In The Ballad of Birmingham the relationship shown is between
My Papa’s Waltz has been compared to a generational litmus test. Depending on what generation the reader was born, could determine how the reader would interpret this poem. Each generation has its own views that have been developed in them for the language used to describe Papa in this poem. The whiskey on his breath and Papa’s hand beating on his head, both sound like a negative connotation. Depending on the experience of the reader, they can either be disturbed by these words or be drawn in closer to the poem. Theodore Roethke loved his father. Not only did he love him, but he idolized him and unfortunately lost him at an early age. This poem is a reflective memorial waltz written in iambic trimeter to honor his father and mother.
Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" is about a relationship between a father and his son. Beginning with the title, the author's meticulous choice of voca...
To be honest, it still is. Yet, my desire to bond with him mattered more to me. Roethke’s narrator in “My Papa’s Waltz” says, “I hung on like death” (l. 3) while waltzing with the child’s father. Whereas, I ask that my father doesn’t invite my siblings because “Just you and me is better” (l. 6) Both children desperately wanted quality time with their fathers because they knew at the end of the night their father would leave them whether it was because the father “waltzed [the child] off to bed” (l. 15) or because he is leaving for a trip (l. 10). “Daddy’s Girl” portrays my youth and natural tendency to desire my father’s