New Criticism In My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
New Criticism attracts many readers to its methods by appealing to them with simple steps in order to criticize any work of literature. According to Steven Lynn it “focuses attention on the work itself, not the reader or the author or anything else” (21). It dismisses the use of all outside sources, asserting that the only way to truly analyze a poem efficiently is to focus purely on the poem. However, my New Criticism approach will include counterparts between the text and historical contexts, such as the author’s life. For this I chose to analyze the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. One can assume that the speaker is a young boy, or perhaps the poet reminiscing his youth. Upon first glance, the tone is humorous, and a picture is presented of a boy waltzing with his father. This scene is comical with the boy clinging on for dear life as his chuckling father spins him around. The father dances around in a haphazard manner, knocking over pans in the kitchen while the mother looks on unhappily. Yet the poem takes a turn downward, suggesting the father’s drunkenness and the boy’s right ear being scraped by the buckle signifies the dance was not …show more content…
“To go forward (as a spiritual man) it is necessary first to go back” (Roethke). Roethke regretted his relationship with his father, for he died when he was only a teenager and this poem is just one of many that probed the darkness of his childhood. Each of his poems are complete in itself; yet each in a sense is a stage in a kind of struggle out of the slime; part of a slow spiritual progress; an effort to be born, and later, to become something more (poetryfoundation.org). This poem is full of prevailing imagery, strong diction, and sound figures of speech that make It easy for the reader to imagine fully the scene that takes
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Theodore Roethke Personification
550 Words | 3 PagesShe says that "The office workers are surprisingly in no less peril in their neat, clean offices than miners are in their dirty back-breaking tunnels" (Katona). As a writer, Roethke is able to make simple objects, mean "something greater than themselves" (Katona). His use of methods and poetic strategies enhance his opinion of complete and udder despair. As the poem goes on, the mood of the poem only deepens with sorrow and pain.
One Art Figurative Language
396 Words | 2 PagesMany people praise and mourn about different things, mostly stuff they like very dearly. Except that mourning is being sad over something they lost that meant alot to one. In the poem “One Art” Elizabeth Bishop evokes praise, mockery and mourning, by using language that shows a carefree tone and a passionate mood. She also fulfills her purpose by utalyzing repetition in her structure.
Tragedy And Care In Sherman Alexie's War Dances
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My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays Analysis
871 Words | 4 PagesThe father/son relationship are shown in both poems. Both are adults reflecting on their past. “My Papa’s Waltz” is about how the father would dance daily with the son. Although it was painful when he sometimes missed a step and his “right ear scraped a buckle”, this was a memorable memory for the son (Line 8). The poem has a happy tone of the sons childhood days.
Critical Analysis Of Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston
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Connotation In My Papa's Waltz
902 Words | 4 PagesAnother example of this, in the last stanza, lines 15-16, is made as Roethke notes “[t]hen waltzed me off to bed/[s]till clinging to your shirt.” The last lines of the poem show the true relationship at the end of all the confusion lost in the midst of the middle of the poem. The father loves his son and waltzes him to bed and the boy, loving his father, slings to his shirt to stay with him. The poem expresses the confusion and complexity created in a relationship such as this one between father and son, but at the end, the confusion is unnecessary and what prevails is not the negatives, but instead the positive aspect of
My Papa's Waltz And Those Winter Sundays
683 Words | 3 PagesEvery story consists of different elements, such as characters, plotlines, and settings. Nonetheless, many stories portray the same messages or ideas. “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, depicts a reckless father who is loved by his child, while “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, depicts a hardworking father whose child is indifferent to him. Though the poems depict exceptionally different childhoods, both contribute to the idea that perceptions of parents alter as one grows into adulthood. Both poems use harsh words and critical tones in order to convey this notion, however in “My Papa’s Waltz,” they signify the recklessness of the father and how the narrator perceives his father as an adult, while in “Those Winter Sundays,” they
Compare And Contrast Sylvia Plath And My Papa's Waltz
846 Words | 4 PagesMeanwhile, Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker implies abuse through a metaphor about dancing, where, in lines 5, 6, and 11- 13 the speaker vaguely mentions abuse, saying “We romped until the pans/ slid from the kitchen shelf”, “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle./ you beat time on my head.” These lines imply the father is abusive, boisterously beating the child in the kitchen so much so that pans fell, without actually saying so. In both poems, the speaker experiences abuse from the father figure in their
My Papa's Waltz Devices Analysis
563 Words | 3 PagesA father and son romping around in the kitchen as the mother is looking. While others may view this poem as a family torn by a father's misfortunes. In line 1, the word “Whiskey” gives some characteristics of the fathers crooked ways. Continuing on, the signs of foul play and roughness with his hands, "battered on one knuckle", and "a palm caked hard by dirt".(11-14) More so, some of “Papa” few escapes most likely consist of a drink when he gets home from a rough day. Concluding, “Papa”makes his own family feel very uncomfortable around him.
Analysis Of My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke
764 Words | 4 Pages“You beat time on my head, With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed, Still clinging to your shirt” (Lines 13-16). The line, “You beat time in my head,” (Line 13), may be misunderstood to indicate physical violence. However, because the waltz begins in a slow rhythm that gradually, increases in tempo, the boy is dizzy and breathless, and yet happy, by its end. Although exhausted the narrator still desires to continue prancing around with the father. Given the opportunity, he would gladly experience his childhood memories exactly the same – bruises, cuts and all.
Imagery In My Papa's Waltz
898 Words | 4 Pages“We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf;” (5-6) we already know that the father has been drinking, Roethke’s diction leaves little to the imagination but chosen carefully have put together an educated form of rough play. We also witness in the next two lines that the mother is not at all happy about the situation, “my mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself.” (7-8) If there is a positive message from this poem, we do not see it any longer. There is no mention of the mother helping; there is just an image of a mother standing back letting the waltz
Differences And Diction In Borden And Owen's Poetry
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Transformative Possibilities In The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes
1456 Words | 6 PagesYet, our friend, the neophyte, has a simpler understanding of the poem; people of various skin tones dance the night away because “Tomorrow…. is darkness.” This meagre interpretation of the poem, again, fails to engage with the literary form Hughes experiments with. Please realize that the neophyte is not referenced as a strawman or an excuse to be sardonic or patronizing. The neophyte is used to caution and admonish readers of poetry that when form is neglected an entire deeper level of the poem is ignored.
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