My Papa's Waltz Poem Summary

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. A deeper love.
ImageThe title is also very misleading, reading "My Papa's Waltz" I thought this poem was about a child's relationship with his father. A good and loving father having a loving, lasting relationship with his child sharing a gentle dance. But from my perspective a father that beats his child like this father does in this poem is a complete monster. But, at the same time I feel like maybe the father has some traumas of his childhood and thinks this is the only way for a movie to show love. I think the father is a poor man that needs people to feel sorry …show more content…
The beatings were so hard that the "pans slid from the kitchen shelf'(Stanza 2 line 2, Roethke), it wasn't easy for him, it was hard, "Such Waltzing was not easy" (Stanza 1- line 4, Roethke) The child lost his childhood because of his father by saying that the father beats him, "Time on my head" (Stanza 4 line 1, Roethke) , but never accused his father of that. The author made us look towards the mother accusingly, he mentions who "could not unfrown 'her' countenance' (Stanza 2, line 3, Roethke). I was undignified with her because she made it seem like it wasn't her job to stop the father from beating her son. If that was my child, I would never allow my husband to beat my child like that; I would defend my child with everything thatImageI