The speakers in “My Papa’s Waltz” and Those Winter Sundays” talks about the relationship between their fathers. The different is that “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that speaks directly to the father, but “Those Winter Sundays” specks about the father. Both Theodore Roethke the writer of “My Papa’s Waltz” and Robert Hayden writer of “Those Winter Sundays”, are two semi-similar poems about the respected of the fathers. The father is not just the man that gave him life, but a person that spends time taking care of them. By doing this, he gains the love and respect of the writers. Both speakers of each poem talks about their admiration of their father for their actions that they did for them; although, they both understand they were not perfect. …show more content…
By revisiting the poem the tone becomes more apparent because in Roethke’s poem is more of a subjective poem and Hayden’s poem is more of a objective poem. The reason that it appears is how the father are being address. In Roethke’s poem, his writing about the clearly fact that he fear his father. The usage of “Like death” (line 3) give his father negative impact and the fear of him. In Hayden’s poem, his writing express the admiration for his father. The usage of “Up early”(line 1) give the poem more of a positive effect because the father is giving up his time to help the speaker and the admiration starts to
just as any other morning, his father rises early and puts on his clothes in the
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.
The events of our childhood and interactions with our parents is an outline of our views as parents ourselves. Although Robert Hayden’s relationship with his father differentiates from the relationship of Theodore Roethke and his father, they are both pondering back to their childhood and expressing the events in a poem. “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those winter Sundays” provide the reader with an image of a childhood event which states how fathers are being viewed by their children. These poems reflect upon the relationship of the father and child when the child was a youth. Both Roethke and Hayden both indicate that their fathers weren’t perfect although they look back admiringly at their fathers’ actions. To most individuals, a father is a man that spends time with and takes care of them which gains him love and respect. An episode of Roethke’s childhood is illustrated in “My Papa’s Waltz”. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the father comes home showing signs of alcohol and then begins waltzing with his son. Roethke states that the father’s hands are “battered on one knuckle”. The mother was so upset about the dancing that she did nothing other than frown. At the end of the day, the father waltzed the son to bed. “Those Winter Sundays” is based on a regular Sunday morning. The father rises early to wake his family and warm the house. To warm the house, he goes out in the cold and splits wood to start a fire. This is a poem about an older boy looking back to his childhood and regretting that “No one ever thanked him.” In Those Winter Sundays'; by Robert Hayden, the poet also relinquishes on a regular occurrence in his childhood. On Sunday mornings, just as any other morning, his father rises early and puts on his clothes in the cold darkness. He ...
My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to prove these two boys in fact love their abusive father. In both of these poems there is a movement from a cold and serious tone to a warm and happy one. The use of imagery successfully accentuates the good things the father does while marginalizing the bad. And the sounds and rhythms also add to the theme of love by manipulating how the poem is read. Roethke and Hayden are two skilled poets that have much control over the techniques they use. It is interesting that these poems are so alike and perhaps it is due to the time at which they were written. In any case, these two poets made a lasting impression on American poetry and will continue to appear in poetry anthologies for years to come.
Poems are often designed to express deep feelings and thoughts about a particular theme. In Theodore Roethke’s poem, My Papa’s Waltz, and Ruth Whitman’s poem, Listening to grownups quarreling, the theme of childhood is conveyed through their details, although we can neither see a face nor hear a voice. These poems are very much alike in their ideas of how their memories pertain to the attitudes of their childhood; however, the wording and tones of the two poems are distinct in how they present their memories. The two poems can be compared and contrasted through the author’s use of tone, imagery, and recollection of events; which illustrate each author’s memories of childhood.
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.
This can be seen especially in stanza four: “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt, / Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt.” Because Roethke’s father was an alcoholic, who worked at a greenhouse during the day, when Otto passed away due to cancer, Roethke was forced to mature before other’s his age (Turpin 478). Nonetheless, he does not blame his father for such. Rather- the last line of the poem suggests how dear his father was to him despite his flaws. As a result, though many critics like Turpin would argue of Reothke’s father’s abusive nature and the dysfunctional relationship shared, bearing in mind that this poem was written in the early 1900s, a contemporary reader would be misguided to assume that child abuse was understood and emphasized in the same manner it is today. In fact, considering that Theodore Reothke’s father died when he was only fourteen one is safe to assume, his father’s death impacted much of Reothke’s later
In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, can be interpreted in two different ways. Some people think that this poem is one of a happy exchange between a father and son. Other people believe that this poem has a hidden message of parental abuse. The poets use of poetic devices gave the impression of the love between the father and son, not of an abusive relationship.
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
The differences between “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke poems is noticeable, and their similarities aren’t noticeable. Thus, Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden describe the relationship a father and son and the way they communicate. Yet, these two relationships could not be more different. In the Roethke’s poem, the speaker had a strong and positive relationship with his father that couldn't be expressed as well as Hayden's relationship with his father. In fact, the fathers’ ability to communicate with their sons was physically, rather than verbally. Also, both poems use negative aspects, fatherly love, and understanding for their father. In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” describes the
In “ My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, young Theodore is recounting his memory of learning his fathers rough waltz and he shows us the pain he took to learn the waltz. In “ Good Times” by Lucille Clifton tells us what it means to live with limited supplies and still be content with life she has. In “My Papa’s Waltz” and in “Good Times” both are a tribute to their dad’s and wants show how much care the speakers have for their fathers even if they didn’t live a posh way or the way to learn waltz is a little rough.
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
Although Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have very different experiences in childhood to write about, the overall message is appreciation of their fathers. Roethke's narrator appreciates that even though his father is not a polished dancer, he takes the time to roughhouse and dance with him as a boy. Even though it hurts a little, it is a fun moment between father and son. Hayden's narrator remembers what his father did for him every morning-lighting the fire and polishing his shoes-and has great regret that he didn't appreciate his father more for doing this things. However, Hayden gives us the chance, with this poem, to appreciate our fathers more.
In the late nineteen forties, Theodore Roethke emerged with a poem that has been the source of much debate. "My Papa's Waltz," is an account of a relationship between son and father. Alas, many readers who are exposed to this piece fail to note the love present in the connection of the characters. In an attempt to illuminate the author's true intention several factors must be examined. After several examinations of Roethke's poem as well as learning of his childhood it is evident that this poem does not suggest an abusive environment, but is an appreciative account of the love and playfulness between the characters. Therefore, a successful interpretation of this poem will look beyond the four stanzas and study not only the history of the writing, but the life of the poet.
These poems are different in their forms. Roethke, in his poem “My Papa’s Waltz” uses a closed form with a distinct pattern and a rhyme scheme. This poem follows an ABAB rhyme scheme. On the other hand, Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” is written in open form. It does not follow any rhyme scheme. The poets use different tones for the poems. In case of “My Papa’s Waltz”, the poet uses a tone full of excitement and joy as he describes the way he danced with his father, while in “Those Winter Sundays”, the poet uses a tone of melancholy when he describes the way his father did little things which no one noticed. The imagery used in the first poem is also different from that used in the second one. “My Papa’s Waltz”, uses imagery like “romping”, “waltzing” which reveals his excitement. On the other hand, in Hayden’s poem, there is no such warmth in the human