My Papa Waltz Analysis

In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, the interpretation of the poem depends on the readers` perspective. Some people think that this poem is one of a happy exchange between a father and son. Others believe that it has a hidden message of child abuse. In my point of view, the imagery and language, the symbolism, and tone in My Papas Waltz gave me the impression of the abusive relationship between the father and son, but then later realizing the positive side.

An ideal father should be someone who nurtures and lovingly cares for his offspring, and some kids are blessed by this opportunity growing up to spend time with their father, even if their parents are divorced. As the years go by our fathers grow older and we too grow old. We start to reminisce about the nostalgic times we had when we were young. In the poems “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, and “Tips From My Father” by Carol Ann Davis; the authors draw from different life events, in which each communicate a happy memory with their fathers to the audience, and conclude a common theme surrounding a bond with their fathers, which can be inferred through how the parents care about their kids and show affection to them by giving their

In “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke illustrates an image of a father-son romp around the kitchen that is both harsh in its play and delicate in its memory. Roethke illustrates the poem’s images from his own childhood memories. Roethke uses simple words to create puzzling phrases that could be interpreted in different ways. The poem is ambiguous due to certain word choices that have baffling double meanings. Roethke’s poem paints an image of his childhood interactions with his father. Roethke paints this picture by using ambiguity within a waltz-like structure.

In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Hayden, the two narrators speak about their fathers in a way that shows there were two different sides to their fathers. One side was abusive and strict, while the other side was loving and caring. Each narrator has a different attitude toward their feelings for their fathers. Roethke has a more fun and understanding view of his father, while Hayden has a more cold and uncaring attitude toward his father. Both Hayden and Roethke talk about their father’s character flaws in their poems. Even though there are flaws in their fathers, both the narrators learn to over see

The poems “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are two poems that both describe a father’s relationship with their son. My Papa’s Waltz suggests that a boy’s farther that is an alcoholic and regardless of his alcohol abuse his son clings onto him as they dance together. In “Those Winter Sundays” it is implied that a boy is reflecting on how hard his farther worked, but he had not been appreciative and had taken his father’s hard work for granted. Though the relationships are very different, both poets use writing techniques and literary devices such as imagery, form, and sound to effectively describe the relationships between a farther and son. “Those Winter Sundays” uses figurative language

As we get older we tend to reflect more on our life and get our priorities together. We tend to realize who and what is important, the people who mean the most to us and the ones we can’t live without. Who would those significant individuals be for us? For most people it would be their parents. In the poems “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz, and “My Mother” by Ellen Bryant Voigt, both writers express their emotion towards a parent. The poems are similar in many ways simply because they share a parent child relationship, they are also vastly different. “My Fathers Song” is a poem about a son who lost his father and is grieving and referring back to old memories, reflecting on their past and the wonderful time he had with his father. “My Mother” on the other hand is a poem about a daughter who lost her mother and is having a difficult time coping as she reflects on the decisions she made as a child and how that affected her relationship with her mother. Despite their differences, the two poems share a true connection of love towards their parent. Most notably “My Fathers Song” and “My Mother” differ in the relationship with their parent, the settings in which the memories they hold of their parents take place, and who they are mourning over, yet the two have a strong emphasis on love.

Firstly, In "My Father's Song," the tone is nostalgia, it's a perfect demonstration of emotion the speaker feels about his father. "My Papa's Waltz," poem's tone is playful and light created by the pleasant rhythm iambic, which makes the poem short and sweet. The tone is promoted through word choice, Both writers use similar word choice to strengthen the theme of admiration. In the poem, "My Papa's Waltz," gives us a both and negative feeling, he uses words such as "Still clinging to your shirt" this shows that he hangs onto his father's shirt, not wanting to let go after his father waltzing him off to bed. His descriptions of the dance give us a fun, playful feeling. Despite the fact the waltz is tough, he still loves his dad. In "My Father's song," the speaker remembers his father’s voice. The speaker describes his experience as “His voice, the slight catch, the depth from his this thin crest, the tremble of emotion in something he has just said to his son, his song” (Ortiz 3-7). The speaker remembers every detail about his father. The child misses his father and cared profoundly about him, especially more tonight “Wanting to say things, I miss my father tonight” (1-2)

In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, the interpretation of the poem depends on the readers`perspective. Some people think that this poem is one of a happy exchange between a father and son. Other people believe that this poem has a hidden message of parental abuse. In my point of view, the imagery and language, the symbolism, and tone in the poem gave me the impression of the love between the father and son, not of an abusive relationship.

The Tone of “Daddy” and “My Papa’s Waltz” is what differentiates the two child-father relationships in the poems from one another with “Daddy” having a tone of hate and fear

The role a father plays in the development of his child leaves an impact on the kid forever. On the contrary, the poor representation of a father can leave his own seed feeling distasteful from his own childhood. In the poems "Those Winter Sundays" written by Robert Hayden, and "My Papa's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, their lies a difference in both patriarchs that is as vast as light and dark. The writers tell their stories in a retrospective form. At any rate, both poems do share a dad that is at least present in their kids' lives, however, it is important to note that in "Those Winter Sundays," the father is a hard-working man that is unappreciated from his child, while in "My Papa's Waltz," the father is abusive to his kid and

Poetry is made to express the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of the poet. The reader can interpret the poem however they see fit. Critics are undecided about the theme of Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz." Some people believe that the poem is one of a happy exchange between a father and son. The more convincing interpretation is that it has a hidden message of parental abuse. Careful analysis of the keywords and each individual stanza back up this theory of child abuse by a violent and drunken father.

A child’s future is usually determined by how their parent’s raise them. Their characteristics reflect how life at home was like, if it had an impeccable effect or destroyed the child’s entire outlook on life. Usually, authors of any type of literature use their experiences in life to help inspire their writing and develop emotion to their works. Poetry is a type of literary work in which there is an intensity given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinct styles and rhythm. These distinct styles include different types of poems such as sonnets, villanelles, free verse, imagist poems, and many more. And these distinct styles are accentuated with the use of literary devices such as metaphors, similes, imagery, personification, rhyme, meter, and more. As a whole, a poem depicts emotions the author and reader’s can relate to. In the poem’s “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, and “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, we read about two different parent and child relationships. These two poems help portray the flaws and strength’s parents exhibit and how their children follow their actions and use it as a take away in their grown up lives.

The tone of "My Papa's Waltz" differs from the tone in "Piano." The ironic tone of the first poem is one of a young man looking back in fear of his father. "But I hung on like death.../The hand that held my wrist.../You beat time on my head..." (3-13). The reader senses a painful scene, which the father appears to hurt and demean his son. On the other hand, the tone of "Piano" is more melancholy. "In spite of myself.../Betrays me back.../To the old Sunday evenings at home..." (5-7). The reader can feel the lyrical and longing tone in the narrator's description of a man who wishes he could go back in time to his childhood where he listened happily to the sounds of the family piano. Roethke's tone towards his father is reflected in the anger and resentment coming from the boy to his father in his poem, while Lawrence's tone towards his childhood memories reflect a longing to return to the love and happiness of his youth. Both poets use their poem's tone to create specific imagery solidifying the reader's perception of each boy's state of mind.

In the poem My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, he looks back in his memory as a child and explains the love he has for his father despite all the flaws his father holds. Roethke describes his emotions through this poem by using diction, imagery, and the use of tone.

My papa’s waltz is a reflection of love and emotion between a father and a son. It demonstrates the childhood experience between a father and a son. As a concept, fear doesn’t make us hate people, it makes us love them even more, especially, if they are our parents. In this poem the speaker conveys his emotions and feelings towards his father. As we first read the poem it seems that the speaker is afraid of his father. The first line of this poem “The whiskey on your breath, could make a small boy dizzy.” It seems that the father was alcoholic and the little son was afraid of him. But as we move ahead in the poem the image of the poem changes and it appears more of a dance between a father and a son. Even though the son could not bear the smell of the alcohol but he still cling on to his father and he do not want to leave him. This is the most moving para as the son was small and scared but the feeling of love overpowered the feeling of fear in these lines.