Abusive Parent Poem Analysis

In both The Glass Castle and “The Life of Reilly”, both the authors got to know their dads and why they did the things they did, and both learned to forgive them and respect them as parents, despite their damaging choices, and in My Papa’s Waltz, despite the possible abuse in the poem, the child still clutches at their father before bed; this shows that children, despite abuse and neglect will always have the propensity to have some kind of loyalty to their parents. Firstly, in My Papa’s Waltz, the child in the poem is “dancing” with their father, but with lines like “you beat time on my head” (Roethke 13) and “such waltzing was not easy” it brings into question whether or not the poem is really about a dance. Assuming that the poem is creatively reframing abuse, it shows the vulnerability of children, and their helplessness in the face of a failed parent. Despite having just been beaten by his dad, the boy in the poem is “still clinging to your shirt” the pronoun, of course, referring to his father.

This poem describes the playful relationship between a father and a child as they romp around the house together. In the last stanza, Roethke writes, “you beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt, / then waltzed me off to bed / still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke 935). This uses imagery in order to show that even though the father had a long day at work, demonstrated by the dirt on his hand, he still found the time to play with his child and make memories. This shows the love he has for his child is very strong, and contributes the unbreakable bond they have. The dirt is symbolic of the strength and roughness the father possesses, which he uses both in his work and while playing with his child. The waltz is a metaphor for their playing and how they are not just walking, but making it into a complicated dance. Comparing their playing and romping around to a waltz shows that their playing is affectionate, while using the imagery of the father’s dirty hands adds to the idea that they are still rough with each other. This proves the unbreakable bond exists between these two because it shows that even after a long, hard day, and even after he had been drinking, the father still wants to be with his child. While they are playing, they get so rough that they begin to

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.

My Papa’s Waltz takes a person back to the son’s childhood. The first two lines say, “The whiskey on your breath, could make a small boy dizzy”. This passage let the readers know what the memory was about. The memory of a father that drank a lot of whiskey. The child’s first memory, was the smell that was strong enough to make him dizzy. The next line said, “But I hung on like death”. The child did not care what the father was, or had done, he still held on to him tightly. During this time, the mother’s frown is one that will not unfrown or go away. The mother could not have been happy, because of her husband’s drinking problem. The next lines said, “The hand that held my wrist, was battered on one knuckle”. This could be interpreted as a possibility of abuse that the child remembers or, that his father worked hard and had injuries on his hands from work. The boy’s thoughts were of a father drinking too much and becoming abusive with his son. One reader had written that Roethke expresses his resentment for his father, a drunken brute with dirty hands and whiskey breath, who carelessly hurt the child’s ear and manhandled him (? 380). That makes a person think that there was some abuse from the father. The last

As the poem progresses, the boy’s tone becomes more playful which reinforces the serious statement about how much he cares for his father. The ‘waltz’ becomes less serious when he says, “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf” (Roethke, 5). Using a word like romped is a deliberate attempt to make a serious event lighthearted and fun. The only reason a child would make this ‘waltz’ playful is because he wants to protect his father, whom he loves. As the last stanza explains, “You beat time on my head…Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.” (Roethke, 13-16) Again, the abuse is compared to a waltz which makes it seem lighthearted. The boy is taking a serious affair and making it into a fun event. He uses this good-natured tone because he loves his father and wants to justify this serious affair.

The small boy's Papa is so intoxicated that his breath makes him dizzy. The dizziness is perceived by critics as "the boy in the poem felt a sickening fear" (Interpretation 536). The sickening fear that the young boy feels requires him to hold "on like death" (3). Obviously holding on is not so easy and the author describes this as a waltz. The abuse is described as a waltz because the boy is enjoying time with his father. The young boy does not know any difference therefore does not know that the abuse is wrong.

“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem by Theodore Roethke in which a young boy describes the actions of his father under the influence of alcohol. Like most children, the young boy has a naïve mind that observes his father's abuse differently. To the child, it is all a graceful waltz, but he is covering the truth with a happy illusion. This might come from the fact that he is a child and does not know enough or he knows too much and has to numb the pain. In “My Papa’s Waltz” Theodore Roethke uses dramatic irony, understatement, and hyperbole in order to express the idea that in order to numb the pain, one covers it with a happy illusion.

In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, was a great poem that can mean many different things to many different people of this world. To me I think it was just a boy who just wanted to spend time with his dad before he has to go to bed. The boy probably does not get to spend time with his dad that much. The father probably works all day and all week and this is the only time the boy gets to spend with him. Roethke use of words in this poem is amazing. The use of the words in this story can mean different things to the reader. The first word to look at is the word waltz. In the dictionary the word waltz is a dance for a fast triple meter song. This is just what the father is doing with his son but his is drunk and dizzy. “But I hung on

In the poem the speaker tells us about how his father woke up early on Sundays and warmed the house so his family can wake up comfortably. We are also told that as he would dress up and head down stairs he feared ¨the chronic angers of that house¨, which can be some sort of quarrel between his father and his mother in the house. This can also lead the reader to believe that the father may have had been a hard dad to deal with. However the father would polish his son's shoes with his cracked hands that ached. This shows the love that the father had for his son and now that the son has grown he realizes what his father did for him. The sons morals and feelings have changed him because as he has grown to become a man he has learned the true meaning of love is being there for one's family and not expecting it to be more than what it is. Consequently this teaches him a lesson on how much his father loved him and how much he regrets not telling him thank

As well, the waltz in the story becomes a symbol of an idealized and elusive relationship between father and son and leads to the title of the poem-"My Papa's Waltz." The last line of poem, "waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt" (line 15-16) infers the boy is very dependent on his father and shows his father loves him very much. The constant rhythm throughout the poem gives it a light beat, like a waltz; the reader feels like he is dancing. The rhythm of poem make a reader feel the joy of a child, not the somber sense of abuse, This is like a child dancing since there is no complicated structure, Moreover, stresses on words such as dizzy, easy, buckle, and knuckle give the poem a rather playful feel to the reader. A child who suffered abuse would not be using happy symbolism to remember his

The writer is describing that even when he cannot physically endure the smell of his father's liquor, he is still fastened to him no matter the obstacle. After all, Roethke is comparing the physical abuse to an elegant dance: the waltz. On a different note, it is vital to identify the importance the titles play in the poems.

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.

The sense of light also aids in the use of imagery. Visualizing the scene is important because the reader can understand the entire incident in the poem. The sense of sight is first introduced with the idea of the "waltz". The "waltz", however, symbolizes the battle between the father and son and is used as a reference throughout the poem. The first reference is in the title, "My Papa's Waltz". This reference continues throughout the poem by continually referring to the "waltz". The first stanza discusses the difficulty in waltzing when the son points out "waltzing was not easy" (4). This line paints a picture for the reader of a son dealing with the hardship of having an abusive father. The last stanza ends with a final reference to the "waltz". The father "waltzed me off to bed" which implies the son received another beating before bedtime (15). The symbolic meaning of the "waltz" enriches the abusive theme by

With the use of imagery, the poet communicates to the reader the emotional bond between the father and his son. In the first stanza of the poem, the he illustrates a clear picture between the son and the father. "The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy But I hung on like death Such waltzing was not easy." the poet is saying that the father may not be the best father in the world with his breath smelling like whiskey, but despite that, the son hangs on like death. The simile the poet

is still yet to be born, but is still in the stages of development in