The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke describes a scene that a father comes back from work, with a whisky breath, dances and plays together with his son, and then the father takes the son up to bed. According to the title, the tone of word “papa” is more innocent than “father”. It 's a baby-talk word that shows that this is a poem based on speaker’s childhood memory. It gives readers a feeling that the speaker loves and misses his father very much. In another way, I think the speaker is also scared of his father, since his father is drunk and he doesn’t know if he will get violence by his father. However, I have two opposite opinions towards this poem. The child is sacred of his father, and they have a bad relationship. On the other
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The first two sentences of the poem, Roethke conveys the father’s drinking as the foremost fact. The alcohol on the father’s breath inebriates his child, which establishes closeness between the father and the son. The dance also shows a subtle intimate relationship between father and son, and the boy is dizzying and anxious. “But I hung on like death” (3). The tone in this line emphasized the sense of closeness is further. “The “waltzing was not easy” (4). It contains the first mention of the “waltz” excepts the title. This is the initial indication of the father and son were dancing together, but the tone of “not easy” doesn’t seem to very harmonious by this situation. “We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6). The tone of this line reveals the rumpus of the dancing, which seems to be different from the grace and beautiful of a waltz. “My mother’s countenanceCould not unfrown itself” (7-8). The mother is introduced into the scene as a rather aloof, disapproving figure. She did not join in the dancing, and stands apart from father and son. The tone indicates that she was displeased by it. “You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt” (13-14). It recalls the picture of the father’s and also shows reader the personal identity of father. “Then waltzed me off to bedStill clinging to your shirt” (15-16). These concluding lines leave a good and lively
The first two sentences of the poem, Roethke conveys the father’s drinking as the foremost fact. The alcohol on the father’s breath inebriates his child, which establishes closeness between the father and the son. The dance also shows a subtle intimate relationship between father and son, and the boy is dizzying and anxious. “But I hung on like death” (3). The tone in this line emphasized the sense of closeness is further. “The “waltzing was not easy” (4). It contains the first mention of the “waltz” excepts the title. This is the initial indication of the father and son were dancing together, but the tone of “not easy” doesn’t seem to very harmonious by this situation. “We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6). The tone of this line reveals the rumpus of the dancing, which seems to be different from the grace and beautiful of a waltz. “My mother’s countenanceCould not unfrown itself” (7-8). The mother is introduced into the scene as a rather aloof, disapproving figure. She did not join in the dancing, and stands apart from father and son. The tone indicates that she was displeased by it. “You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt” (13-14). It recalls the picture of the father’s and also shows reader the personal identity of father. “Then waltzed me off to bedStill clinging to your shirt” (15-16). These concluding lines leave a good and lively