Meter and Rhythm Described in My Papa's Waltz
My Papa 's Waltz" In Theodor Roethke 's "My Papa 's waltz" the
reader finds a horrid experiance, the beating of a child by his father,
which is told in a way of a romantic and beutifull dance - the waltz. The
feeling one get from reading this poem is that the narrator, at least at
the time in which the poem is written, does not look at this experience as
something bad. He tries to beutify the experience by making it a waltz. He
also, by means of images and rythem, shows the conflict between the
readers, or the way any other 'normal ' man will look at this experiance,
and how he sees it, or wants it to be seen ( although he does not show his
father as completley innocent). It can also be looked upon as the Petty
Herst syndrom - meaning having a 'reality ' so intense and strong that one
feels incapable of any other 'reality ', fearing it can and will be worse.
The poem is built of four stanzas( quatrain ), each consisting of
four lines. The rhyme scheme is, in the first stanza - abab, in the second
- cdcd, in the third - efef, and in the fourth - ghgh. The meter is
trecet iamb ( stressed unstressed - three times per line ). The
central image in the poem is the metaphor in which the beatings are
described as a waltz. The poet is led around the house, dancing - not
beaten around. Which is also brought throu by the meter - trecet iamb -
the beat of the waltz, thus the main image is shown through the meter as
well, giving the reader more of the feeling of a dance in contrast to the
'secondery images ' which are more associated with the rough experiance of
a beating. Given such parameters the poet installs some sort of relaxation
in the reader ( maybe even in himself ), in order to make the subject -
the beating - more readable, and lessening the effect of the drunkness and
the beatings, making his father more human. By this dance metaphor the
whole routine of the beating is messeged. The drunken father, his breath "
Could make a small boy
reader finds a horrid experiance, the beating of a child by his father,
which is told in a way of a romantic and beutifull dance - the waltz. The
feeling one get from reading this poem is that the narrator, at least at
the time in which the poem is written, does not look at this experience as
something bad. He tries to beutify the experience by making it a waltz. He
also, by means of images and rythem, shows the conflict between the
readers, or the way any other 'normal ' man will look at this experiance,
and how he sees it, or wants it to be seen ( although he does not show his
father as completley innocent). It can also be looked upon as the Petty
Herst syndrom - meaning having a 'reality ' so intense and strong that one
feels incapable of any other 'reality ', fearing it can and will be worse.
The poem is built of four stanzas( quatrain ), each consisting of
four lines. The rhyme scheme is, in the first stanza - abab, in the second
- cdcd, in the third - efef, and in the fourth - ghgh. The meter is
trecet iamb ( stressed unstressed - three times per line ). The
central image in the poem is the metaphor in which the beatings are
described as a waltz. The poet is led around the house, dancing - not
beaten around. Which is also brought throu by the meter - trecet iamb -
the beat of the waltz, thus the main image is shown through the meter as
well, giving the reader more of the feeling of a dance in contrast to the
'secondery images ' which are more associated with the rough experiance of
a beating. Given such parameters the poet installs some sort of relaxation
in the reader ( maybe even in himself ), in order to make the subject -
the beating - more readable, and lessening the effect of the drunkness and
the beatings, making his father more human. By this dance metaphor the
whole routine of the beating is messeged. The drunken father, his breath "
Could make a small boy