My Papa 's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, uses four stanzas to explain what many readers would conclude as a beating by an abusive and out of control father. He uses metaphoric language to set the tone for his poem. Studying Roethke’s biography you learn his poems are based on events he experienced during his development from childhood to adulthood.

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

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.

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.

Throughout the second half of this semester, we have read poems that all had some type of comparison. It may not have been an obvious comparison, but most of these poems had at least one. In the poems, “My Papa’s Waltz” and “For My Daughter,” both describe a beloved family member. They both put in clear detail of the positive and negative things about said family member. These poems both describe someone misunderstanding or mistreating another. It is amazing how each of these poems can describe or be told about a certain problem and how they all can relate in some type of way. The reason behind that is because everyone no matter who they are all goes through the same situations as the next person. Whether it is, gender, age, religion, race or even education, there is something that can connect one to another.

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

Every one of us has a childhood, some of us may experience a memorable one, while some of us want to erase it from our memory. Everyone also has their own personal feelings towards a father's figure due to their personal experiences they have as a child. The poems "My Father's Song," by Simon J. Ortiz, and "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke, are two similar poems written about a father and child relationship. My Papa's Waltz" creates a debate whether the father-son relationship is sweet loving memory or a confession of childhood abuse. The two poems are spoken from the child's point of view during a memorable event in their childhood. The poems "My Father's Song and "My Papa's Waltz" both share a theme of admiration each kid has looking upon their father and a warm memory. The writers use a variety of poetic devices such as tone, word choice, imagery, and figurative language.

In recent times as well as before many of our action can lead others to misinterpretation.

“My Papa’s Waltz” ,a poem written by Theodore Roethke, is about a father whose despairing dance moves terrify the son. Roethke uses the connotation of words to create an unruly mood.

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

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.

Childhood is where it all begins, where a child is usually looking for some sort of guidance and affection. Relationships in a family is significant as they portray how a child will hide attitudes towards their parents, sometimes through their delusions, other times through their silence. The poems "My Papa's Waltz", by Theodor Roethke and "Those Winter Sundays", by Robert Hayden use the theme of emotionally-based childhood experiences for the love of their fathers, but are displayed in different ways. The fundamental message conveyed is the importance of a father-son relationship.

Poems are written to convey the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of the poet and are meant to be analyzed. People have different views and interpretations of poems going from one extreme to another. This poem can be looked at from two perspectives: a happy and playful exchange between father and son or parent abuse. Looking at the title of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke, I got positive vibes and thought it would be about a kid and his father dancing. Papa is usually a word used by a young boy or girl to get the attention of their loving father and a waltz is a dance usually demonstrating happy times. The first time reading it through I continued to think that it was a poem about a father and a son just dancing around

It is essential to understand the context of "My Papa's Waltz.". In fact, Roethke was only fifteen when he wrote this. Roethke father’s profession was a greenhouse owner, and the year the poem was published was in 1942. In line fourteen “With a palm caked hard by dirt”. When researching “Caked” defines covered, which explains where his father works since it is in a greenhouse. The author includes this in the story to show that “Caked” can be interpreted that Roethke’s father was a hard worker. Lines one and two reveals, that Roethke’s father is a heavy drinker “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy ”

Theodore Roethke is able to make readers emphasize to his poems by using people’s common life experience as a child in his poetry. By using people’s common experience, Roethke is able to describe his theme about human life and nature easier that every reader can understand. Bobby Fong states, “‘My papa’s Waltz’ is characterized as depicting the father's ‘mixture of tenderness and brutality’ and the child's ‘admiration and fear’” (78). In “My Papa’s Waltz”, it gives readers a image of a father and a child while they read through the poem. Roethke writes, “The hand that held my wrist / was battered on one knuckle; / At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle” (Poetry Foundation). This stanza gives readers a child’s point of view to his father. Specifically, these stanzas gives a image of a caring father. Roethke successfully delivered the peaceful, warm image of dad so that everybody can relate themselves to this poem because everybody have a memory of a youth life with