In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Roethke uses an extended metaphor, but uses different language to describe it as the poem is read. “My Papa’s Waltz” has the metaphor of dancing throughout the poem, more correctly, waltzing between a father and son. Everything from the description of the fluidity of the dance to the speakers feeling towards the dance helps create a stronger meaning behind the metaphor. Roethke uses dancing as a metaphor for the relationship between the son and the father, according to the son. Roethke is also able to create a unique atmosphere with his word choice.…
The poem my papas waltz was written by Theodore Roethke as a way to look back on his life. Yet some have read his poem and think his father was abusive. That somewhat makes sense… if you don’t read it right. Most connect alcohol with violence, not knowing that some can drink copious amounts of alcohol and not be drunk. Such is the case for the father in the…
Marriage, the couple promises to love until death do they part, and to never leave each other even if it's just in a memory. That is what happens in this poem, the boy will love his father until the end, even when a great bitterness remains in his memory of all of the suffering. Another way in which the son shows his love for the father is when the boy is longing for him by calling him "Papa" and not the "father". This word is usually used, often, referring to fathers. One has a special relationship, a certain kind of love.…
In "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is describing his abusive relationship with his alcoholic father. His father's "waltz" is a metaphor for his drunken beatings. The poem depicts a father chasing his son around the house, while the mother stands and watches dejectfully, unable to stop her husband from his relentless "waltzing."…
Imagine being a child that loves their father unconditionally. That love is more powerful than thinking of the harm he does is doing to you. “My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke can be interpreted in multiple ways. The poem could be interpreted as a parent abusing his child due to alcoholism or a child dancing with his father. In the poem, Theodore reminisces about his youth of tangled emotions of fear and unconditional love towards his father besides the imperfections his father has.…
It illuminates the usually troubled relationship between a child and a father. It involves various contrasting themes such as love and admiration of a child towards the father and equally miscommunication or misunderstanding between the two individuals of different generations. Equally significant is the scenario of positive family relations. A father who deeply loves his son and is so committed to the family’s wellbeing, comfort, and possible happiness. The persona in the poem, in this case, the young son narrates about, “Sundays too my father got up early/…/then with cracked hands that ached/ from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze’’ (1, 2-3).…
While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to describe the relationship between him and his father, and a memory they shared together. Roethke made the poem sound as if had two completely different meaning behind it. For example, it can mean that a father and his child are horsing around before bedtime or it can mean that an intoxicated father abuses his child. He wanted to see what us, the audience, had to say when reading the poem.…
He Loves Me In the poem "My Papa 's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, most readers believe that it is about abuse. Is it possible? Of course it is, it depends on who’s reading the poem and their interpretation of the poem. The use of language, diction, imagery, and symbols, along with the tone helps to influence how readers come to their own conclusion on what the poem is really about.…
The two would recklessly dance around the kitchen knocking things off the shelves while they were dancing and playing around. The memories of the two making a mess in the kitchen is a “sweet” memory of him and his father. The line “Hung on like death” (line 3) is also a good example of how the father and son bonded. The young boy would cling to his father so that he wouldn 't fall while the two were energetically dancing around the kitchen. The boy clinging to his father was a connecting moment between the two.…
He is trying to dissociate himself from the events, showing just how ashamed he is of his younger self for not understanding how all the work his father did to show his…
When the reader first analyzes the poem, it naturally comes of as harsh or scary. The first thought that comes to mind is that the drunken father is abusing the child. Although after further analysis of the poem it seems as though that is not the case. The poem doesn’t sound as though it was the happiest memory of the child’s life, but it wasn’t a memory he feared either. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” written by Theodore Roethke, the speaker’s experience seems to be a positive one based on the rhythm and word choice.…
At first glance this poem seems to be about a young boy who is abused by his alcoholic Father. After breaking this poem into different pieces it is only then that the reader is able to see how Roethke applied the Psychology Criticism to explain that the waltz is not a dance, but it is symbolic of the young boy’s relationship with his Father. The mental process of perception from this small boy dominates as a central theme.…
He keeps the house warm by going out to collect wood for the fire in the snow so his child does not have to. The other is a drunken father who dances with his child, creating a bond through the time they spend together. My papa’s waltz is a poem about parents. The poem speaks of a young boy dancing with his drunken father.…
The love a father has for his son is endless. As a parent, most fathers would go to the ends of the worlds for their kids, they would sacrifice everything and anything just so their child has the chance to be happy. However, it is often seen, that children have a hard time seeing the sacrifices that their parents make, they only focus on the bad or what their parent did not do rather than what they succeeded in doing. On the opposite side of the spectrums, sometimes kids are so blinded by the love and adoration they have for their parents, that they do not see the obvious flaws their parents have, no matter how big they are. The different dynamics of a parent/child relationship can be show in the short poems “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke.…
I have read Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” several times, and every I tend to find new insights in it. It is the same old story where a father comes home drunk and mistreats his family. That’s what a reader would think after one reading of it. I expressed I can relate to the son and father’s relationship, along with some of the emotions expressed in the poem.…