Lost Between Love and Abuse

2418 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: My papa's waltz imagery

Since the time of Adam and Eve, parents have played a major role in upbringing children and reproducing more generations. In most societies, the father has been the backbone of the family and played a major role in providing support and stability to the family. Yet, the role of the father differs from a family to another. While some fathers focus only on feeding and educating their children, others focus on every aspect of their children’s lives. The father’s leadership often drives the children to have a close relationship with the father. Sons often see the father as their role model and build a father-son relationship. Yet, the father-son relationship can be either weak or strong depends on the father’s concept of parenthood. The American poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) describes the relationship between him and his father through his poem “My Papa’s Waltz.” Theodore reveals his painful memories of his difficult childhood in a critical age when many children wouldn’t ask for anything more than the love of their parents. Professor Grant T. Smith “Theodore Roethke's ‘My Papa's Waltz’: A Reader's Response”, explains how his students value the father-son relationship in Theodore’ poem, he believes that “Their primary argument that this poem depicts a harsh father-son relationship was that the description of the dancing is violent.” Conversely, some readers disagree with this statement and think that the father-son relationship on Theodore’s poem in fact unleashes a cohesive bond between the father and his son. Theodor’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” vividly reflects a picture of child abuse through the child’s voice.

Theodor’s poem caught the attention of a remarkable number of scholars, researchers and individual readers who partici...

... middle of paper ...

...this question has more than one answer. I strongly believe that Theodor’s poem certainly reflects a painful childhood experience of physical and physiological abuse. Theodore’s poem is a clear definition of violence and child mistreatment.

Works Cited

Fong, Bobby. "Roethke's `My Papa's Waltz'." College Literature 17.1 (1990): 78. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2011.

Grant T. Smith. Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz": A Reader's Response 30 Jan. 2007

McKenna, John J. "Roethke's Revisions and the Tone of 'My Papa's Waltz'." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 11.2 (1998): 34-38. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 8 Apr. 2011.

Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz.” The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. New York:

Anchor Books, 1975. 43.

Show More
Related

  • “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • John Ames Relationship

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    The relationship between a father and a son can be expressed as perhaps the most critical relationship that a man endures in his lifetime. This is the relationship that influences a man and all other relationships that he constructs throughout his being. Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead explores the difficulty in making this connection across generations. Four men named John Ames are investigated in this story: three generations in one family and a namesake from a closely connected family. Most of these father-son relationships are distraught, filled with tension, misunderstanding, anger, and occasionally hostility. There often seems an impassable gulf between the men and, as seen throughout the pages of Gilead, it can be so intense that it creates

    Read More

  • Truth about Sammy in John Updike's A&P

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    Updike, John. "A & P." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 2nd Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1990. 407-411.

    Read More

  • John Updike’s A & P, Richard Wright’s The Man Who Was Almost a Man, and James Joyce’s Araby

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Updike, John. “A&P”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 864 - 869.

    Read More

  • Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz and Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Healing The Tragic Scars Of Abuse Analysis

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of my favorite songs I learned in Primary as a young LDS child was “A Child’s Prayer.” It’s opening lines are “Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child’s prayer?” For some children in the United States, they are in such destitute conditions they may doubt there is hope, or anyone above that is listening. Abusive parents, a life in poverty, or sexual abuse are only some of the problems some children in the United States are facing right now. The LDS Church places immense importance on families, and healthy familial relationships– Jesus Christ himself taught little children with love and patience, and in Matthew 19:14 he said “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is

    Read More

  • Essay About Love in My Papa's Waltz, Facts, Night Driving, Those Winter Sundays, Digging, and Daddy

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first poem, "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke (Page 18) presents a clear picture of the young man's father, from line one. "Whiskey" on the father's breath is one of many clues in appearance that mold a rough image of this uneducated, blue-collar worker, possibly a European immigrant, as indicated by the "Waltz" in the title (Line 1). These traits are not necessarily related. They merely exist at once in the father's character. Additional signs of roughness are his hand, "battered on one knuckle"(11), and "a palm caked hard by dirt"(14). This is a man who has probably known only grueling labor. His few escapes likely consist of a drink or two when he gets home from a tough day and maybe something good on the radio. This idea of the father as an unrefined oaf is further reinforced by his actions. His missed steps injure the child's ear, while the father and son's "romping" causes the pans to slide "from the kitchen shelf"(6). As he "beat[s] time"(13) on the child's head we see very clearly that he is quite brutish and careless with the child, and oblivious to his environment. All these factors make the boy's mother very uncomfortable. We can see the disapproval in her countenance, which "could not unfrown itself"(8). She is obviously upset but, strangely, does nothing to interfere with the horseplay that grieves her. This suggests that the waltz is enjoyable for not only one, but both parties. One might wonder why it is that the boy so delights in these moments. This is obviously a crude, boorish man. He probably doesn't flush. He may even smell bad. Are these reasons to love one's father less? Certainly not in the eyes of a small boy. This young man's father may not be the most sensitive or perceptive man around, but he still seems to be a hero in the eyes of his son. Finally, the son recalls these words: "Then you waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt"(16). After reading this poem, it is clear just how unconditional a child's love is.

    Read More

  • A Collection of Book Reviews Dealing with Racism

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is a book that tells the important story about the social significance and long-standing implications of fatherless families from a seldom heard point of view. The male siblings are linked by their struggles achieve peace with father and with the women in their lives as they move from adolescence adulthood. This text is filled with rich characterization and visual imagery.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz Poem Analysis

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1908, the year this poem was written, child abuse was recognized internationally and the “Children Act of 1908” was put in place to attempt to minimize the occurrences. The narrator, a young boy in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke uses harsh and intense wording that describes the daily rituals of abuse within the household from the father that he characterizes as a dance. A large counter argument against this poem says that the narrator is speaking out of admiration rather than fear; that the narrator and his drunken father are merrily playing around by dancing together around their house.

    Read More

  • Roethkes Use of Tone

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roethke's Revisions and the Tone of 'My Papa's Waltz'". ANQ Spring 1998: v11n2. Online. The. Galileo. 21 October 1999. Roethke, Theodore.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Frankenstein, Community, and the Individual

    1689 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • One Hundred Years of Solitude

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    A father ultimate role is to maintain structure in his household. However, in the One Hundred Years of Solitude the role of patriarchy has reverse int...

    Read More

  • The Meaning of Heritage in Alice Walker's Everyday Use

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Callahan, John. "Review of Love and Trouble." Short Story Criticism Vol. 5. (Essay date 1974).

    Read More

More about Lost Between Love and Abuse

Open Document