In the two poems “Those winter Sundays” and “My Papa’s Waltz” the authors are remembering their childhood with their fathers. The first poem “Those Winter Sundays” it is about a man who gets up early in the morning and builds a fire for his family. It also is saying how no one ever thanked him for his hard work. The second poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is about how as a boy, the author would dance around with his father, and how he could smell the alcohol on his father’s breath. It was an unpleasant feeling but the son got over the difficulties of it and loved to dance with him. The two poems explore the relationship between the speakers and their fathers. The relationship in the two poems show through author’s childhood memories, of their father’s actions and how the son responded to those actions. …show more content…
The words “cracked hands” tells the reader that he worked really hard. The speaker uses imagery to show how dark it was back in the old days and how the father would have to wake up early in the morning and go out in the cold just to chop wood to build a fire. You could visual how hard of a time the father was having when he was doing this because of the cold winter days they had. However, we don’t know how much snow was on the ground. When the speaker was a child he knew that his father did hard work to support his family, but he did not know on how to help his dad or what to the meaning of the word “work” really was. However, in this poem there is a little bit of guilt maybe because of how no one ever helped the father with the labor. The father did not seem to mind that no one ever thanked him because he loved helping his family. When Hayden says “What did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices” (13-14). When the boy says this he realizes the difficulties that will come when he is
“Those Winter Sundays” is a short lyric poem. It is written in a simple language and is clear and precise. Its metaphors are those of everyday life. The opening stanza of the poem, which refers to “my father,” establishes a first-person speaker. It also shows that the speaker is recalling a time when he was a child. The speaker presents us with the atmosphere around which his father worked. For example in lines one and two, “Sundays too my father got up early/blueblack cold” (1-2). Here the “Sundays”, and the “early” signifies the great devotion of speaker’s father. He gets up early even on Sundays,
"Sundays too my father got up early and / And put his clothes on in the blueback cold" comes from Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and describes the life of the speaker who reminisces of the childhood experiences that were spent with the speaker's father (1-2). "At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle" comes from Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz and also exemplifies a past relationship between a child and father (11-2). Despite the many similarities that exist between Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" and Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" the tone, diction, and poetic devices that are used in each poem
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
“Those Winter Sunday” and “First Lesson” have many similarities and differences. They both speak of two different learning experiences. They both included a loving father; although the father’s show their love differently. In “Those Winter Sundays” the son of a hard working and loving father learns that his dad may not of expressed his love verbally , but instead with actions. In “First Lesson” we she a dad teaching his dauer how to float, and how it’s ok to take a break. Throughout the poems the others use theme, tone, and figurative language to reveal the similarities and differences of the two poems.
In comparing and contrasting the poems, "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke and "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence, the reader could also compare and contrast the childhood lives of the poets themselves. Roethke's father, Otto Roethke, was a drunk and a figure of terror to his son (Seager 26). His mother was an angry woman and Theodore was a desperate child consistently in the middle of his parent's opposition (Seager 28). D.H. Lawrence's father was a drunk, almost illiterate miner (Squires and Talbot 34). His mother; however, was educated, refined, and pious, ruling the lives of her sons (Squires and Talbot 42). Reviewing the form, tone, and imagery of both poems, the attitude of the boy towards his father in Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" allows
In both “Those Winter Sundays” and “My Papas Waltz,” the speakers reminisce about their fathers. Although the speakers’ father in each poem is a man who loves and works hard for his son, each father displays his love for his son through different acts. In “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, the speakers father indirectly expresses his undying love to his son through rigorous work around the house. The father is always striving to improve the house and make sure his son is comfortable, while in “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, the father leaves his work at the front door and enjoys romping about with his son, the whole time bumbling about, carelessly destroying everything in his path. Each respective poem has evidence of how the fathers of their sons love their sons as displayed through the tone, imagery and personality
“Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden, can easily be compared to “My Papa’s Waltz”, simply because both poems are read from the two lenses of abuse and innocence. More commonly with Hayden’s poem, you can interpret it as a light-hearted piece. The poem is a simple memory that people all over can probably relate to, of how his hard-working father would wake up early even on Sunday mornings to make sure that he woke up in the comfort of a warm house in the winter. Although this one is a lot easier to read from the light-hearted side there is still a darker side that some people see relating to emotional and mental abuse from the father projected onto the child.
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)
While most of us think back to memories of our childhood and our relationships with our parents, we all have what he would call defining moments in our views of motherhood or fatherhood. It is clearly evident that both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have much to say about the roles of fathers in their two poems as well. While the relationships with their fathers differ somewhat, both men are thinking back to a defining moment in their childhood and remembering it with a poem. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" both give the reader a snapshot view of one defining moment in their childhood, and these moments speak about the way these children view their fathers. Told now years later, they understand even more about these
In the analysis of Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” and Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” both modernistic and highly respected poets similarly write with a sense of reminiscence of childhood experiences. Similarly, both poems are about a memory as a boy looking back at a specific time in their lives and the love they have for their respected fathers. A similar implication is expressed in the way of their lives not being perfect, but still remaining a humble family. This is shown within the first stanza of “My Papa’s Waltz” with an intoxicated father, as well as the first stanza of “Those Winter Sundays” with a hard-working, yet poor and achy father. Both poets’ usage of figurative language is present in ways of metaphorically speaking and alliteration. For example, in Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” the speaker compares the cold to an object that can splinter and break, by insinuating “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.” (Hayden, line 5) More so, in Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” the term “But I hung on like death” (Roethke, line 3) is presented as a metaphor as well. They have some common poetic themes shared between such as love, family, and admiration, however, they are presented in different ways in accordance their tones, making them unique. In analyzing the two, although quite similar, the structure, mechanics, tones, settings, and the interpreted mood of the poem, brings justification on their differences.
My Papa's Waltz and Robert Hayden's Those Winter Sundays Abuse is a troublesome and delicate subject that can have durable impacts. These traumatic passionate impacts are frequently increased if the mishandle happens at a youthful age since kids don't comprehend why the manhandle is going on or how to manage it. There are many mishandle programs set up to counter the extreme impacts which manhandle can have. Considerably more, artists and journalists everywhere throughout the world contribute works that express the disheartening occasions and constrain the general population to acknowledge it is a great deal more genuine than the instructive articles we read about.
In this response, I am comparing and contrasting the emotions that the speakers Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Hayden’s “ Those Winter Sundays” have towards their fathers. In “ My Papa’s Waltz”, get the feeling that the father abuses the speaker and has a strong dislike for the speaker. According to the text, “ The hand that held my wrist, Was battered on one knuckle, At every step you missed, my right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke 9-12). In “ Those Winter Sundays”, I get this feeling that the speaker’s father is a hardworking man that keeps clothes on their back and keeps the house warm, but the speaker has to wake up early on Sundays to help his father. In comparison the both talk about their father, but mostly contrasting that “ My Papa’s
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
In “Those Winter Sundays” the father isn’t shown the appreciation he deserves. He gets up early on Sundays and works with “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather” (3-4). In “ My Papa’s Waltz,” the father is not as hard-working as the father in “Those Winter Sundays.” He was a drunk, as shown in the text when, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). This poem
Living in the digital age has change a lot how we read and understand literature. There is no secret that every piece of literature has hidden messages for the reader to interpreted especially poems. Each reader understand something different, Google is make uses get to a conclusion about the text. Google help a lot while reading the poems, especially while reading “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Daddy” by Silvia Plath.