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Theodore Roethke My Papa's Waltz Analysis
578 Words3 Pages
Recommended: Narrative essay about grief
Imagine growing up in a house where your father was drunk and your mother would keep quiet, all you have to hold on to are the good memories. This is what it was like for the little boy growing up in the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. The young boy loved his father dearly even though he would get beat by his drunk father. When his father died things changed, all he has left is the good memories. The boy struggles to cope with his father's passing, the boy is having a negative experience. Theodore Roethke had a hard life as a child, his father passed away from cancer when he was only fifteen years old. Roethke was very close to his father, he would follow in around everywhere. He admired his dad working
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Chiu Ching 3U (8) My Papa’s Waltz Questions 1. Comment on the simile in the first stanza. (3 marks) The simile used in the first stanza is “I hung on like death”(3). The next line, “Such waltzing was not easy”(4) suggests that the father and son’s boisterous, wild “romping”(5) around was difficult for the child, and he had to hang on tightly because the father was romping around drunkenly and did not hold onto him well.
475 Words | 2 Pages
The poem My Papa Waltz by the title sounds like it could be sweet and loving. The poem is actually very dark in my opinion. In the poem the father is drunk, stumbling and hurting the boy. Even though they could just be having a good time, running around, and the father could also be trying to teach the boy to grow up, I believe that the poem is about a boy being abused by his father. Because he also states that the father is so drunk that his breath could get a small boy drunk.
657 Words | 3 Pages
The imagery of “My Papas Waltz” can clearly be understood as a father waltzing with his son in the kitchen, tapping the beat too his son’s head, and his ear scraping his buckle against his child’s ear. The poem is playful when the poem says, “At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke lines 11-12).
563 Words | 3 Pages
Although “Papa” may not be the most sensitive man around, but he is still to be a hero in his son's eyes. Referring from the title of “My Papa’s Waltz”, “Papa” does not seem like he’s being violent intentionally but not accidentally hurting his son. This poem also, symbolizes dance in the relationship of a father and
764 Words | 4 Pages
In the final analysis, most readers of this poem tend to deduce a dark theme of physical violence due to its tone, word choice and imagery. Nonetherless, Roethke balances positive and negative tones of the poem to give it a rich and ambiguous quality. The exceeding tendency to paint the picture of child abuse deprives it, of this quality. “My Papa’s Waltz,” illustrates a special and powerful moment, shared between a father and a son through a waltz.
598 Words | 3 Pages
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, papa is lost but yet memories stay with the child forever. A family member can bring back a whole life of memories and experience to someone as they are engraved in the loving memory. The theme of this poem is that a person’s close relation is lost, yet they’ll be still with the family despite the emptiness. In this poem papa’s waltz kept the memory alive, using imagery and metaphors as the main connection between the reader and the speaker it creates a deep relatable symphony for the readers to interpret. Imagery is a very important part of “My Papa’s Waltz” because it is one of the reasons the speaker is able to keep the memories of papa.
902 Words | 4 Pages
The relationship between father and son is one that is both sacred, yet complex as each side of the relationship faces hardships. This relationship between a son and his role model, a father and his child, is one, has its ups, but one must also know it has downs. In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke’s use of ambiguity through diction allows room for the audience to interpret the text in a positive or a negative way, representing the relationship between a father and a son, which on the outside can be interpreted in an either positive or a negative way. Roethke’s use of diction creates an element of confusion for the audience of his poem.
596 Words | 3 Pages
My papa’s waltz his/her dad was drunk while his son/daughter trying to teach waltz and in Grape sherbet his/her dad made recipe of swirled snow. “But I hung on like death/ Such waltzing was not easy” (line 3 and 4). “Dad appears with his
871 Words | 4 Pages
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.
802 Words | 4 Pages
Everything in life has similarities and differences as long as you're looking for them, but some have more than others. Comparing similarities and difference between two things in life is making a compare and contrast (book) . When comparing and contrasting two pieces of literature you have to observe not only the themes of them but also the plot. Fences by August Wilson and My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke have many similarities and differences throughout the literature due to themes and the plot.
404 Words | 2 Pages
Poetry, a type of writing, also as a kind of art work, which can lead the reader to know the feeling and story of the poet. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Roethke, the author emphasizes the situation which is so extreme or surprising them by enlarging the event that exaggerate the real fact. The poet also uses one thing to describe the other that can let people to imagine the vivid movement. Or compare two different objects can let the readers to connect by themselves. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” the author use hyperbole, simile and metaphor to effectively describe the altercation between the speaker and his father.
588 Words | 3 Pages
In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz, the speaker, Theodore Roethke, writes about a father and son waltzing. Further investigation suggests there is more going on than a waltz. The poet utilizes figure of speech and a negative toned vocabulary throughout the poem. Thus, alleviating the reader of the harsh truth of an abusive relationship whilst never dehumanizing the father.
664 Words | 3 Pages
In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke illustrates the complex relationship between a little boy and his father by juxtaposing images of love and violence through word choices that portray feelings of fear yet affection for his father. Roethke’s shifting tone encompasses distress and a sense admiration that suggests the complexities of violence both physically and emotionally for the undercurrents of his father and son relationship. The poem begins with a series of negative images, each of which are considered violent and undesirable in a family. For example, “The whiskey on your breath” suggests alcoholism, and “Could make a small boy dizzy” emphasizes that a boy is suffering from the effects of the alcoholic parent.
531 Words | 3 Pages
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.
621 Words | 3 Pages
Diction has a strong affect on how readers interpret a passage. This is proven through Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”. The poem presents a boy roughhousing with his father. However, some critics see the roughhousing taking place as abusive, due to the negative word choice displayed throughout the poem. The author set a positive and negative tone throughout the poem, representing the respect and fear he had for his father.
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