My Papa 's Waltz By Theodore Roethke Essay

One of the most difficult, yet rewarding roles is that of a parent. The relationship between and parent and child is so complex and important that a parents relationship with her/his child can affect the relationship that the child has with his/her friends and lovers. A child will watch their parents and use them as role models and in turn project what the child has learned into all of the relationship that he child will have. The way a parent interacts with his/her child has a huge impact on the child’s social and emotional development. Such cases of parent and child relationships are presented in Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”. While Roethke and Plath both write about a dynamic between a child-father relationship that seems unhealthy and abusive, Plath writes about a complex and tense child-father relationship in which the child hates her father, whereas Roethke writes about a complex and more relaxed child-father relationship in which the son loves his father. Through the use of tone, rhyme, meter, and imagery, both poems illustrate different child-father relationships in which each child has a different set of feelings toward their father.

Donald Hall describes the use of imagery in poetry as a device that "makes us more sensitive to [literature], as if we acquired eyes that could see through things"(p 530). Imagery creates vivid details that deal with one's sense of sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste. These details can be seen in Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" because the senses of touch, sight, sound, and smell appeal to the reader in order to better explain the feelings of each character in the poem. Roethke's use of imagery creates a negative picture that is painted by the son of an abusive father.

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.

Everyone has a father. No matter if the father is present in a child’s life or not, he still exists and takes that role. A father has a major impact on his child whether he knows it or not, and that impact and example shapes the child’s perspective on life, and on love. The authors, Robert Hayden and Lucille Clifton, share the impact of their fathers through poetry, each with their own take on how their fathers treated them. The poems “Forgiving My Father” and “Those Winter Sundays” have significant differences in the speaker’s childhood experiences, the tone of the works, and the imagery presented, which all relate to the different themes of each poem.

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.

In each of these poems, the narrators did share some of the same attitudes towards their fathers. Roethke shows his father may not have been around as much as he should have been. His father would drink his life away and end up being a completely

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.

The main form of syntax that Roethke uses is rhyme scheme. “My Papa’s Waltz” contains a simple ABAB rhyme scheme, in which many slant rhymes are used; further, this makes the poem sound similar to the way a song would. Notably, waltzes are guided dances… just as the father in “My Papa’s Waltz,” guided his son through life. Yet, it is also important to note that waltzes are meant to be simple, swift, and loving. Although waltzes are described as these things, Roethke’s childhood is described as a waltz gone wrong. He makes it obvious he faces abuse and the effects of alcoholism in his early life. As stated, the rhyme scheme used by Roethke helps develop the true main idea of this poem by shaping it as it were a song, more specifically a waltz. If the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” was a song, it would be a pessimistic and depressing one. Clearly, Roethke’s unfortunate experiences portrayed by using syntax make us one step closer to discovery the real purpose of the poem. In short, the syntax of this story shapes its meaning through rhyme scheme.

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)

Roethke uses dramatic irony throughout the poem due to the fact that the reader knows what is going on, but the child does not. The reader knows that the father is under the influence of alcohol and is being abusive to the child and his mother, but the child does not know that, or he does not see it that way at least. In line four Roethke says, “Such waltzing was not easy.”. The child sees it as a graceful dance, for in this line he is saying that he cannot keep up with his father’s waltz since it is complex. That is only one side though, he might know the truth, but he just does not understand the reason for the choreography being used, that being his father’s despicable actions. He is covering the reality with the idea that he does not understand the steps to his father’s dance. He is in fact creating a happy

Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” illustrates a nightly ritual between a working-class father and his young son. In the first stanza a young boy holds tightly to his father. The second stanza describes a playful roughhousing between father and son. The fourth stanza shows again the boy’s unwillingness to let go of his father. Roethke’s AB rhyming scheme and waltz-like meter set a light and joyful cadence. The music of the waltz comes through in the reading and with it a carefree and innocent tone for the telling of the short amount of time between a hard-working father arriving home and the time when his son must go to bed.

In John J. McKenna scholar review of “My Papa’s Waltz” he reviews how Roethke had so much trouble writing this poem. McKenna says that Roethke tried to balance the light and the darkness in this poem. When the poem was first written it was about a girl and her father but change it to a boy because he wanted a little more roughness in his poem. He changes some words from the first couple of times he wrote it than the real publish one. Some of the changes were from a girl to a boy, when the boy scrapped his right ear was really the forehead at first, and also the battered knuckles were palms at first. Roethke changes the title of his work six times but he finally came back to the first title “My Papa’s Waltz”. His biggest struggle was to find out either to use Papa or father and waltz and dance. Ultimately he figures out what to use because it was a great poem.

Is it true that the most renowned people are often the most damaged? In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, this poem reflects his life’s misfortunes while confirming the question. On May 25, 1908 in the quiet town of Saginaw, Michigan, Helen Huebner gave birth to a baby boy, unaware he would grow up to be a distinguished author. However, distinguished or not, Roethke was troubled and battled manic depression throughout the course of his life. He was a brilliant man yet labeled as mentally unstable due to his depression and the amount of issues he faced. His problems did not define him but his works in literature left his personal life exposed and raw to the careful and observant reader.

The authors controversial poem becomes clear when one carefully examines the context of the poem. In stanza one, line one, Roethke describes the “papa” in the poem as having “whiskey” “on [his] breath.” This line illuminates the idea of the father being intoxicated; hence, can lead to a change in behavior. Further, the change in behavior can be the cause of violence towards the child in the poem. Coincidentally, Roethke’s father dies in 1923 at the age of 52; thirty-eight years later Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz,” roughly at 52 years of age. The

Roethke does a very good job of presenting the poem in a form that uses specific images and language to present a memory that a man has of his father. “My Papa’s Waltz” uses imagery and diction as a means to illustrate a loving and playful relationship between father and son.