“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem written by Theodore Roethke in 1941. His poem is structured around a young boy’s relationship with his intoxicated father. The story takes place in the 1940’s. The family couldn’t have had television at that time, so probably a radio instead. The rhythm of a waltz could’ve been initiated from a radio. But, the author uses symbolism such as the waltz, to describe the boy’s relationship to his father. The speaker uses various themes such as family, respect, manliness, and authority to convey his relationship with his father to the audience.
The aspects about family and authority can be seen according to the father’s actions. The father came home very intoxicated and starts waltzing around the kitchen with his son, to his wife’s displeasure. The speaker uses a sound device such as onomatopoeia, to describe the father’s uncoordinated dance. In the text it stated, “We romped until the pans; Slid from the kitchen shelves.” Which was used to put emphasis on how loud or how bad of a ruckus it was. Waltzing is a type of dance in which the dancers revolve in perpetual circles. But waltz is a symbol for the relationship between the father and son. “Such waltzing …show more content…
Even though the little boy is possibly abused by his father, he looks up to him. In the text it states, “Then waltzed me off to bed; Still clinging to your shirt.” This shows how much the little boy looks up to his father. In the text, the boy said that “The whiskey on your breath; Could make a small boy dizzy.” Meaning the father has been drinking enough, to make his own son faint or pass out. But because the boy loves his father, it is hard for the boy to hold on to him during his drunken scenes. The father’s battered hands could also imply the father’s masculinity. For example, how hard the father works at his job, which the boy probably realizes by now. The son probably learns what it means to be a man from his
The aspects about family and authority can be seen according to the father’s actions. The father came home very intoxicated and starts waltzing around the kitchen with his son, to his wife’s displeasure. The speaker uses a sound device such as onomatopoeia, to describe the father’s uncoordinated dance. In the text it stated, “We romped until the pans; Slid from the kitchen shelves.” Which was used to put emphasis on how loud or how bad of a ruckus it was. Waltzing is a type of dance in which the dancers revolve in perpetual circles. But waltz is a symbol for the relationship between the father and son. “Such waltzing …show more content…
Even though the little boy is possibly abused by his father, he looks up to him. In the text it states, “Then waltzed me off to bed; Still clinging to your shirt.” This shows how much the little boy looks up to his father. In the text, the boy said that “The whiskey on your breath; Could make a small boy dizzy.” Meaning the father has been drinking enough, to make his own son faint or pass out. But because the boy loves his father, it is hard for the boy to hold on to him during his drunken scenes. The father’s battered hands could also imply the father’s masculinity. For example, how hard the father works at his job, which the boy probably realizes by now. The son probably learns what it means to be a man from his