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Essay On My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

624 Words3 Pages

Father and Child and relationships can be difficult. Some better than others and some worse. In the poem “My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke the way I interpret the peom is an abusive husband who is never home and when he is he is intoxication. Starting from the first “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” to me means the father just came home from drinking and knocking the kid out dizzy. The next line continuing the same thought as the previous line “But I hung on like death” Could be the young child is out unconscious and just hanging on to his life. After that the line “Such waltzing was not easy” might be it wasn’t easy for the child to watch their father to dance over his body. This stance to me means that the father came home drunk and he knocked the child out the point of the child being unconscious. A Husband and Wife can share a strang bond between each other. Love, Lust and some strange interest. As the second stance goes it sounds like Wife and Husband are waltzing in the kitchen where the child lays there …show more content…

Some don’t want to speak to their parents after they move out. Some do self harm to get attention from others. As the third stance starts in the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” begin with “The held my wrist” to me is the father picking the kid by the wrist or the child covering up his wrist. That is followed by “Was battered on one knuckle” which is that one of the fathers knuckles is bloody from beating the child from the first stance. After that line it's followed by “At every step you missed” which could be every body part which not isn’t damaged. The final line of the third stance is backed up by “My right ear scraped a buckle.” which is the child getting beaten by a belt buckle in the child’s right ear. The stance to me repentances the child trying to get back up the beating he took in the first stance but the father came back and saw the child trying to get back

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