In “My Papa’s Waltz,” poet Theodore Roethke uses sensory details and ambiguous language to persuade both the boy and the reader that the boy still loves his father, despite him being an alcoholic. On the third sentence of the first stanza, Roethke uses ambiguous language by stating: “But I hung on like death. Such waltzing was not easy.” Although this plainly means that the boy was holding onto his father without ease, it can be interpreted in another way; the boy still loves his father, even though it is hard to love him with his alcoholism at times, and the boy still loves his father very much. The boy is reflecting on this idea while waltzing with his
The conflicting interests of the mother and the father result in a situation where one must make a sacrifice in order to preserve the connection in the family. The flat depressed tone of the poem reflects the mother’s unhappiness and frustration about having to constantly
The first poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Robert Hayden, has a very happy tone the first reading. However upon a second reading a sense of harshness and sorrow seem to some into play. In the first reading the thought “wow this is really cute he is dancing with his son, maybe he's a little tipsy and is having fun with his kid
The next two lines say, “hung on like death” and “ waltzing was not easy” this shows that the child stands by their father and it wasn’t that easy. Continuing with the second stanza the child describes more about going through this crazy life. “ We romped until the pans/ Slid from the shelf;/ My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself”. The first two lines of the stanza say that the child and their father keep trying in life through the good and bad times.
For the entire duration of the poem, the reader is able to infer how the complexity of the relationship changes and how the father feels about his son through the techniques and methods stated above. Within A Story, Lee uses point of view from both characters to convey the idea that the father’s relationship with his son is indeed, increasingly complex. The reader also learns from this point of view technique that the time of thought within the poem constantly changes. The boy’s young age is shown clearly in the beginning of the poem as: “His five-year-old son waits in his lap.”
The mother has nothing but a “countenance” expression to the actions the father is doing to his child. It can show that the narrator didn’t know anything better but to love. Although the poem may sound simple and easy to understand, My Papa’s Waltz is really a complex story
My father’s Song, the speaker is narrating the memories they shared with his father. These two poems are written with a focus on the father and child relationship. The two poems also reveal the narrators ' memories and shows how fast time can go and what was meaningful in the narrators’ childhood is gone. The two poems share the themes of Love, Childhood memories, and endeavors of the male parent. Likewise, the two poems contrast like love, reflected by the two fathers, the memories of childhood and the narrator’s feelings about their memories.
In Theodore Roethke’s poignant poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” the speaker’s lack of enjoyment during a waltz with his father forms the central theme, unraveling layers of discomfort and tension beneath the seemingly innocuous act. Initially, the speaker’s unease is evident as he describes the waltz as difficult. Though there could be moments of apparent enjoyment, they are overshadowed by tension, notably reflected in the disapproving expression of bystanders. Despite the possibility of finding solace in the rowdy dance, the overall tone, filled with vivid imagery and emotive language, conveys the speaker’s aversion to the experience. The main factors contributing to this claim of lack of enjoyment are: the father’s intoxication, the speaker feeling
Another 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
The 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.
No Fun Waltz In his poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke captures a memory of a time when his father was under the influence of alcohol. Roethke describes the endeavor with a negative tone and diction that is exemplified by the description of the protagonist’s father, mother, and self, there is one key factor in this story that keeps it in a playful tone and not a one-hundred percent negative poem, and that is Roethke. His personal description of this experience promotes an overwhelmingly positive contrast to the bleak and negative tone of the rest of the poem. It is not negative, but at the same time it is not positive, it is somewhere in between.
Another example from the poem is “Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt.” This shows that the boy did not want to stop playing. That although his father played rough with him he enjoyed the rough housing. It also shows that the young boy is clinging to his father because he does not want to stop playing to go to
For example, the speaker describes what his father’s hands look like: “With a palm caked hard by dirt” (Roethke, 14). In other words, his father is a hard worker that provides for them and this gives him human qualities. He does this because he loves his father no matter what altercation comes about. For example, the speaker ends the poem by describing how he is put to bed: “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt”
I examined "My Papa's Waltz" and the impression I get from the poem is that through the symbolism, dialect, and the imagery in this work it's a story of the affection between a child and his dad. I feel this is the theme through a few unique lines of the poem. The figurative language is offered in lines like line 3, “but I hung on like death ", the kid clung to his shirt not on account of trepidation but rather he would not like to fall off while dancing with his dad. Furthermore line 15 says "still clinging to his shirt" which suggests to me that the kid wouldn't like to go to bed since he appreciated the time with his dad. All these poetic words leave me with the feeling this is an awesome relationship that the father has with his son even
In this poem all the son sees is battered knuckles on his father with “palms caked hard by dirt.” This paints a description of an abusive father that does not love his son because if he did love his son he would not hurt him. The father is first introduced with “whiskey on his breath” (line 1) which can be inferred that he is an alcoholic and this creates a negative image that the reader can see and even smell. The son though seems to notice all this, but still seems to love his father and admire him. The waltz represents a repetitive step and in the poem the waltz is his father’s constant abuse and interrupts the sweet idealistic dance.
