The poem begins in prose form, which outpours like conversation. As a result, the prose structure creates a very warm, homelike feeling. The prose paragraph describes the speaker’s home life and provides a backstory for the reader. It is evident that there is a sense of family belonging through the speaker’s description of their home: “our walls high and bare except for the / family photos whose frames [are] crowded with siblings” (8). Undoubtedly, the family is large and fellowship with one another is an important aspect of their home life.…
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).…
Dylan Thomas’s poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night”, comes over as plethora of emotions. It takes on the journey of his feelings about the close proximity of his father's death. It is an emotional rollercoaster as throughout the poem he is confused as to what his reaction to the ordeal should be: at the start he is feeling like he must be strong as in the time of this poems writing, 1951, men were expected to not show emotions and to go through life with a stiff upper lip. He is trying to uphold the attitude - which in his opinion conforms to social norms - by keeping this cold attitude towards his father’s impending demise. However, slowly through the poem you see him forget society's expectations of him as he falls through an endless…
Thou [the father] shoudst not cut thy heart off from him.” The passage also emphasizes the importance of lessons passed down from father to son, saying “How good it is when a son accepts what his father says! Thereby maturity comes to him.” Not only is it good when a son listens to his father, but “If a son accepts what his father says, no project of his miscarries.” This leads us to assume that the father’s word held ultimate power, and that the father was seen as being always right or all knowing, thus gaining the highest level of respect in the…
Sometimes fathers are not always Daddies; “My Papa’s Waltz”, written by Theodore Roethke, and “Those Winter Sundays” , written by Robert Hayden, are both prime examples of how the ideal father son relationship is not a reality for everyone. While both poems are about difficult relationships between the sons and their fathers both children have different types of relationships with their fathers. Based on the point of view, household descriptions, and how the speakers talk about their fathers it can be incurred that “My Papa’s Waltz” is a more physical relationship than “Those Winter Sundays”. Both poems are told from the sons’ point of views. In “My Papa’s Waltz” the boy talks about how he is waltzing around the room with his father; possibly even being abused by him; “But I hung on like death: / Such waltzing was not easy.”…
As we know, a father is the most important person besides one’s mother. However, since a father is mostly the one who works and supports the family, he does not usually interact with his children or express his love to them as their mother does. Therefore, some of the prominent authors have chosen this as the theme of their poems. For instance, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are two of the most famous poems about father’s love. Even though both poems show the narrators’ contradictory feelings about their relationship with their father, their imagery, theme, tone are different from each other.…
In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, the author, Theodore Roethke, recollects his youth and tangled emotions of fear and unconditional love from his father, who is characterized as brutal uncomfortable, and intoxicated, and a mother, who is unamused and disapproves of the father’s behavior. Roethke conveys a strong bond between a son and a father. Roethke shows a complex relationship with from son who feels frightened and at the same time joyful with his father. The reaction leads to a complicated love relationship. Also, the poem describes the son’s fear and love that he feels towards his family by using literary techniques, such as setting, tone, and imagery, which allows the reader to better understand how Roethke is conveying unconditional love.…
His words make readers confused about the relationship between the son and the father. All the opinions are depending on how reader think about it. If readers think as a good way, this poem is describing about a good scene of a family, which is the father, the son and the mother loves each other. If readers think as a bad way, this poem is describing about how the son gets hurt from a drunken father, and bad relationship between them which is reflected by the mother and the son fear to say anything that might be make the father and the husband angry; and also reflected by the father take careless of the feeling of his wife and his…
“My Papa’s Waltz” Imagery The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” the author Theodore Roethke talks about his small boy and the relationship he has with his father who is considered drunk or incapable of walking straight, so the boy helps his father. The poem is told from the perspective of the small boy as he addresses his father’s awkward walk since he is considered intoxicated. The relationship they share is expressed by the use of imagery in the poem to show the audience the father’s drunk behaviors and the small boys reactions. The poet uses imagery to explain the amusing moments between the son and his father together.…
Domestic abuse. This is something we take very seriously nowadays, but in the early- to mid-1900’s, it was not as easily reported. Why you might ask? There were not as many resources for reporting domestic abuse. Therefore, “My Papa’s Waltz” may not be about domestic abuse.…
Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas is about the subject of death, but the theme is focused on fighting against death and gives the reader a sense of control over death by never giving up. The poem tells us not to give up easily when it says “Rage, rage against the dying the light” (Thomas, 659), which indicates a fight. The tone is angry and it uses assonance by repeating O’s sounds over and over, showing repetition similar to someone punching someone repeatedly giving the reader a feeling of control over death. The use of assonance by using words like do, not, go, into, and good create a repetitive effect of doing something over and over and never giving up. There is a one simile to point out in the fifth stanza where it…
A father’s love for his son is not always seen. In the poem, “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, the narrator is talking about how he regrets not realizing and thanking his father for all the suffering and good that his father has done for him. The author uses imagery and diction to portray a better image about the narrator's regret for not noticing his father’s good deeds sooner. One of the more commonly used literary element in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” is imagery. The author uses imagery to emphasize the regrets that the speaker has about his father.…
Even though his hesitation appears in the form of self-accusation, he remains determined to fulfill his father’s…
“Do not go gentle into that good night/ Old age should burn and rave at close of day/Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” This is to say that, essentially, one should not go down without a fight. The first and last lines of the stanza are the lines that get repeated throughout the poem, and they summarize Thomas’s message well. Additionally, they offer a bit of nature imagery, by comparing death to night and life to light.…
Dylan Thomas’s 1951 poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” explores the inevitable mortality that plagues mankind. Throughout the villanelle structure, the speaker leads the reader through his pleas of fighting against “that good night,” while the repeated refrains in alternating stanzas help to reinforce the ideas of not going “gentle” and “raging against” the dying light, instituting the idea that death is not something to succumb to. Not only does the poem explore how to face the inevitable, but Thomas also explores how a life should be lived by providing examples of men that have fought against death. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” illuminates the relationship between life and death through its villanelle structure, as well…