Analysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke

The poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke tells the story of a moment between a father and a son. The father smells like he has had a little too much to drink, and he is dancing around in the kitchen with his son. The dance doesn’t seem to be as much fun for the son, because he is continually scraping his ear against his dad’s belt buckle. Similarly, the poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden tells the story of a particular moment between a father and son. The son tells the story of his father doing particular tasks every morning for the family. The speaker makes it clear that the father was never thanked for everything he did. It is only now at an older age, that the speaker realizes these small tasks were his father’s way of showing affection. Both poems have similar subject matter, and use strong imagery to describe their relationship, but they express different attitudes about father son relationships. Although both p oets use a specific form throughout their poems, the both use different forms. Roethke’s poem is written in iambic trimeter, and has a ABAB rhyme scheme that continues throughout the entire poem. Something that Roethke does beautifully by using iambic trimeter, is relating the rhymes back to the subject matter of the poem. The dance of a waltz is done in three beats, similar to the beats of each line in this poem. However, every single line does not follow this particular beat, which works in this poem considering the dad is drunk. The beat ofShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke Essay1368 Words   |  6 Pagesphysically and emotionally scar him, and those scars can last for a lifetime. In the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke, the speaker describes the abuse that his father dealt to him under the guise of a dance. Although this abuse is hidden to some readers on the first read through, there are a few instanc es in the poem that are typical signs of abuse. The evidences of abuse in the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† that are typical to child abuse are the alcoholism of the father, the striking of theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke1020 Words   |  5 Pages My Papa s Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, and Those Winter Sundays, by Robert Hayden, are two of the most famous American poems dealing with the theme of fatherhood. Each of them detail the narrator’s own experience with their fathers and some things are the same about them and some are different. That is what makes poetry unique. There are millions of poems out there so some may appear to be the same upfront, but they always have a factor that separates them from the rest. Both of these poemsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem My Papa s Waltz By Theodore Roethke909 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke is an intriguing poem because of its ambiguity. One could see this as a poem about a child having a playful dance with his dad before bedtime but I see it as a poem about a child being abused by his father because he is an alcoholic. A dance is supposed to symbolize an expression of joyful spirituality and love especially the waltz. Specifically, the title may give the impression that this dance between father and son is a smooth romantic dance but some wordsRead MoreMy Papas Waltz Personal Analysis1473 Words   |  6 Pagesbe able to encounter the various meanings, tones, structure, my personal opinion and analysis of the poem â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Theodore Roethke. For more to add, you will also encounter with a brief biography of the poet Roethke which will explain why the poet wrote this poem a nd how much meaning it has for him. The reason why I chose this poem out of the other seven choices that were given was because this poem captivated me. The poem itself has a lot of parts in which it amazed me, but what amazedRead More Analysis of My Papas Waltz by Theodore Rothke Essay521 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of My Papas Waltz by Theodore Rothke My Papas Waltz is by Theodore Rothke it is about a childhood memory written later in his lifetime. Theodore Rothkes dad was an alcoholic drunk. Theodore Rothke went through a period where he was depressed and mentally unstable. Theodore Rothke was fascinated by the nature of the world; many of his poems were about this subject. Some people who read My Papas Waltz come to the conclusion that it is about a drunken abusive father. However, I thinkRead MoreAnalysis Of Theodore Roethke s My Papa s Waltz958 Words   |  4 Pageswith Love: An Analysis of Form in Theodore Roethke’s â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† In â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† there are a plethora of word twists, hidden meanings, and thought provoking terminology. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the meaning of the word waltz is â€Å"a dance performed to music in triple time by couples who, almost embracing each other, swing round and round in the same direction with smooth and even steps, moving on as they gyrate.† The term of the â€Å"waltz† in this poem has many intricateRead MoreMy Papas Waltz: an Analysis of Speaker and Situation Essay772 Words   |  4 PagesThe poem My Papas Waltz by Theodore Roethke is a moving representation of childhood spent in a working middle class family. The speaker of this poem is a man recalling his childhood, his father and his mother through the means of a waltz. The following essay will present a detailed analysis of the dramatic situation and speaker through the explanations of the various poetic tools used in this poem such as similes, cho ice of words and style. Theodore Roethke portrays the father figureRead MoreEssay about My Papas Waltz vs. Those Winter Nights1521 Words   |  7 PagesKoch Literature and Culture 5/6/13 Research Paper My Papa’s Waltz Vs. Those Winter Nights In â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† by Roethke and â€Å"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,Read MoreBishop And Roethke On The Contradictions Of Perception1968 Words   |  8 PagesBishop and Roethke on the Contradictions of Perception My Papa s Waltz by Theodore Roethke and The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop depict the seemingly disparate subjects of a rough, playful dance between a drunken father and his son and a fish just pulled from the sea. Different in this way, the poems share an intense desire to render the ambiguity of subjective experience. More specifically, they show how embracing this ambiguity produces rich, potentially ecstatic modes of perception. While My Papa