Preview

My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
627 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
Theodore Roethke once said, “Love is not love’s vulnerable”. Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” is a short poem about a dance between the father and the son. In each line, there are many consonance which makes specific words to be important or strong. This makes the dance to sound like a fight which in fact many readers might mistakened by a coverup of a fight. Even though the poem has strong words, there are deeper analysis that shows the son and the father actually having a nice dance. From this, there are evidence that this poem has a positive tone between the father and the son. To analyze that the poem, the reader must find words that mean something deeper. At the commencement of the poem, the son had held on from his father’s bad breath
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz Summary
    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz Summary

    In the poem, My Papa’s Waltz, Theodore Roethke talks about a young boy’s relationship with his father. I think that the poem talks about how the young boy loves his father but their relationship is strained. I also think that the young boy fears that his father will drink himself to death.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    HANSEN Assignment 2 My Papa S Waltz Final Draft
    • 1060 Words
    • 3 Pages

    HANSEN Assignment 2 My Papa S Waltz Final Draft

    His poem "My Papa's Waltz" is a very emotionally stimulating poem. Roethke’s use of ethos in this poem helps establish his creditability. He writes the poem from a first-hand perspective, recounting some very vivid memories from a night with his father. With his use of pathos and ambiguity usually leaves the interpretation of the poem up to the reader. Some people may consider this poem to describe an abusive relationship between a young boy and his father. On the contrary, some believe this poem reflects on fond memories between a father and son.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tone Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tone Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    In “My Papa’s Waltz’ by Theodore Roethke, the speaker’s tone towards his father is one that is loving and admiring. This is seen in the word choice of the speaker when interacting with his father.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Synthesis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Synthesis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem written by Theodore Roethke. In which it is written about a father and son who are dancing together before bedtime. The story can be interpreted as having two sides behind it. One being a more joyful scenario which is the interaction between a father who is playing with his child and encounters a few rough moments such as when Roethke said “My right ear scraped a buckle” which shows how the boy is short and standing up he is only up to his father’s waist causing his “right ear to scrape a buckle.” On the other half it seems like the boy is being tortured or beaten by the father. Throughout the text it shows the boy and father having a bad encounter with each other and the mother not being able to say anything, but when looking at it closely the reason it comes off as an abusive poem is because of the words being chosen by Roethke. It seems like the boy is being…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    "Inside is where the son and father will always be holding hands"(Adam Johnson). All children one way or another have a special bond between them and their father. But, a father and son form an unbreakable bond. It's natural for a father to groom his son and teach him things he himself faced when he was once young. The poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke entails a memory of a small boy and father perceived to be having a good time and having a good time and dancing despite the father being drunk. “My Papa’s Waltz” is a positive childhood experience because the drunk father made time for his son, the father worked hard to provide for his family and the small boy loved his father unconditionally.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare And Contrast My Papas Waltz And A Good Man Is Hard To Find
    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Compare And Contrast My Papas Waltz And A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    In the poem “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and in the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’ Connor they both share some similarities. Both the story and the poem illustrate topics such as family, innocence and selfishness.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz Figurative Language
    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz Figurative Language

    In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke uses many connotations and detail that could be understood as positive or negative, but in my eyes, the word choice and intense details seem indicate a more sullen tone and a more abusive behavior towards the speaker. This poem is about a father and a son “waltzing” in their kitchen with their mother watching. Roethke does use a few words such as clinging and romped that could indicate a playful dance and a child clinging to their loving father not wanting to go to bed; however, there is more predominant language that shows an abusive father. The author first indicates that the whiskey on the father’s breath could make the son dizzy. This shows that the father has been drinking a large amount…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Wael Alromaih assignmrnt 1
    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Wael Alromaih assignmrnt 1

    Theodore Roethke writes about a loving relationship between a father and his son in the poem “My Papa Waltz”. Their relation is so close and loving even though the father is alcoholic “the whiskey in your breath could make a boy dizzy.” He hung’s on to the dance with him and they dance through the kitchen making a mess and the son knows his mother will disapprove of it “my mother’s countenance could not inform itself.” The father waltzes his son to bed but he still insists on his shirt and this proves his love for his dad despite his shortcomings.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    If we look closely, there is a deeper, more loving tone in the speaker's voice for his father. We can tell by looking at the vocabulary and syntax used in the poem. Referring to his father as "Papa" automatically gives away that the boy still loves father because papa was an affectionate term used by innocent young boys at the time. The boy also uses terms like waltzing, romped, slid, and clinging to suggest the situation was more playful than violent. For example, Roethke could have said that the pans fell or dropped from the kitchen shelf but he went with slid to make the effects of the scene less drastic. Another example would be "the hand that held my wrist". If the Roethke truly intended for it to be abusive, much stronger language would have been chosen over held. In fact, one could argue that this ritual between the father and the speaker is routine seeing as the mother was doing nothing to prevent any harm from coming to her son. She was quite possibly only frowning because of the big mess in the kitchen. My theory would be is that the boy is stuck at home all day with no father because he as hard at work all day, hence the rough and "battered" hands. The father comes home and immediately unwinds by having a few whiskey drinks. Therefore the only fun and interaction the speaker can have with his father is this troublesome, playful waltz about going to bed on time. Roethke desires to be with…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz Poem Analysis
    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz Poem Analysis

    "My Papa's Waltz" is one of most popular contemporary poems written by Theodore Roethke. The poem was first published in 1942 by Heast Magazines, Inc. from The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. It is a poem about a boy recalling a time with his father while they share a dance of waltz. This poem consists of four quatrains written in iambic trimeter with a simple rhyme scheme. It uses imagery, metaphors, and simile to invoke a strong impression. Each image captures an emotional richness all told from an innocent point of view of a child. At first glance, this poem has a tone of playfulness that captures the bond between father and son. Yet as one looks closely, the poem has a curious ambiguity that evokes multiple interpretations. The use of sardonic words to describe an affectionate moment is misleading and ultimately the readers are left to wonder whether the boy in the poem is suggesting some type of abuse or…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz Analysis
    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz Analysis

    In “My Papa’s Waltz”, American poet Theodore Roethke transforms the horrid experience of a child being beaten by his father into the romantic and beautiful dance of a waltz. Written in trecet iambs to imitate the relaxing beat of the waltz, the poet installs some sense of pleasure in the reader. In doing so, Roethke makes the subject of a beating more readable and lessening the effect of the drunkenness makes the speaker’s father more forgivable. The lucidity of diction and imagery throughout Roethke’s poem distracts from the underlying dark metaphor of a son being beaten by his drunk father to a graceful waltz.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Destruction In The Poem 'Nighttime Fires'
    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Destruction In The Poem 'Nighttime Fires'

    The anger that the father feels due to his unfortunate circumstances is prevalent throughout the poem and it leads to a strain on the relationship with the speaker as a child. The troubled economy resulted in the father losing his job; the speaker tells us that it was after this occurred that he…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Creative Analysis: My Papa's Waltz
    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Creative Analysis: My Papa's Waltz

    As reader-response critics have long noted, opening up discussions of a poem to accommodate multiple interpretations can reveal striking things about how individual readers’ assumptions and cultural positions affect their understanding of what they read. “My Papa’s Waltz: The Sequel,” a poem that expands Theodore Roethke’s poem, My Papa’s Waltz, better supports the original poem’s theme of mourning a beloved father as opposed to what some believe is the theme of child abuse.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa Waltz
    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My Papa Waltz

    In the poem “My Papa Waltz” Written by Theodore Roethke, a young child is running around the house following and playing with the drunkard of a dad. The child can smell the whiskey on his breath but continues to cling tightly as the child does not want to stop playing. This scuffling shakes and rattles the pans in the kitchen frustrating the mom as she is annoyed with her drunk of a husband. Bedtime has approached so the child is then carried to bed still clinging to the fathers’ shirt. Roethke uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to portray how forgiving a child’s love can be.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz
    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages

    My Papa's Waltz

    The author of My Papa’s Waltz, Theodore Roethke, portrays the speaker of the poem’s childhood in a surprisingly dark, negative tone. At first glance, it appears to be an innocent story of a child who dances around one night with his silly, happily drunken father. However, a close reading and analysis of the poem will show that this is not the case. For example, the line “You beat time on my head” refers to the child being hit and smacked. This line has a very negative connotation when it is fully analyzed. What is really going on is that he his being abused by his angry drunken father. This is memorable because it is presented in a way in which it seems that the speaker feels he does not have permission to, or that he is unable to communicate…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics