Compare And Contrast Those Winter Sundays And Papas Waltz

Love will always be there

Robert Hayden 's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke 's "My Papa 's Waltz" distinctly captures the bond and the dynamic between the fathers and their sons interrelationships. For many people love is a very difficult feeling to express. Some express love through actions, while others through genuine feelings. Throughout the generations, the father figure performed many important roles in the family. He was the main breadwinner, protector, and a figure that a child will always look up too with trust and admiration. This is the aspect in which both American poets Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke portray their own relationship with their father’s. These two poems are about the author’s childhood memories

In contrast Hayden is not mentioning his mother at all, which could also be a hint that maybe she died, since the father toke over almost all the house duties. Due to the rhymes, and the short lines in “My Papa’s Waltz” the literary value of the poem seems to have an apparent simplicity. On the other hand, in “Those Winter Sundays” the language looks heavier, almost like reading prose, making the reader think twice about the real meaning of the words. Judging by the tone, significance, importance, and the meaning of these powerful poems we can see that both authors are yearning for closure, because of the open wounds that never really healed. There is no indication in the poems that they accomplished to make peace with their ongoing torment. And the reason might be that while we are children, we do not possess the understanding of what really goes on in our families, only after we become adults our self we gain a better understanding of the sacrifices our parents did for us, or the damages they caused scaring our souls forever. Robert Hayden ends his poem on a sad note saying, “What did I know, what did I

Although the tone, the details makes each poem unique the central idea is identical, they both emphasize the particular bond the author’s had with their fathers despite their different experiences. Theodore Roethke in “My
Papa’s Waltz” illustrates a few apparently happy childhood episodes that he and his father shared. The author carefully selected his words trying to hide the reality of an incompetent father, and a dysfunctional family. At the same time Robert Hayden in “Those Winter Sundays”, displays a unique language and sometimes harsh images about the lack of appreciation towards his dedicated father. The author created a short but compelling lyric that gives the audience a sense of the suffering and anguish life often delivers but hardly resolves. In the same way, many people are facing similar family hardships which they overcome depending on their unique internal strength and the severity of the problems. Oftentimes in life we miss the opportunity to give thanks to those that loved and cared for us, many times because they are already gone, and other times because we still hold the fear in expressing our true