This My Papa’s Waltz analysis essay examines the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke published in 1942. It provides a summary of the poem, describing the action of what takes place; it then gives an analysis of the work, discusses the characters and the main theme of the poem; and finally provides an assessment of the poem’s use of imagery and symbolism. The essay shows that Roethke’s poem is, ultimately, an ode to his father’s merriment and should be considered as an affectionate recollection of the author’s childhood rather than a stern rebuke full of resentment that some readers might be tempted to take it for.
Introduction
Theodore Roethke’s 16-line, 4 stanza poem tells the story of a small boy’s father waltzing him to bed. The father is a laborer—a working class man—whose breath smells of whiskey. The father joyfully—and with much romping—drunkenly dances with his son, clearly in a good…...
Papa's Waltz
In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke describes the antics of an alcoholic father with eerie imagery. This brief four stanza poem conveys a tone of sorrow and sympathy for a young boy and his abusive father. Roethke employs a considerable amount of irony with his choice of language, for a waltz normally evokes joyful dance and lively music. In the case of "My Papa's Waltz," however, the dance is dysfunctional and dangerous. While there is no overt mentioning of child or wife battering, the poet suggests that the waltz approaches child abuse. With words like "death" and "beat," Roethke hints at actions without blatantly describing them. The poet manages to create a definite mood through subtle selection of words, a simple rhyme scheme, and poignant imagery.
Significant poetic features of "My Papa's Waltz" include rhyme, meter, diction, and imagery. "My Papa's Waltz" contains four-line stanzas with lines…...
And the phrase "I hung on like death" that denotes a child's fear of falling or tension. To the child "such waltzing was not easy." The phrase, too, "you beat time on my head" tells us something of the child's height, as well as the father's strength.
The description about the hand is an evocative phrase. And 'sliding' is again consistent with the dance movements of a waltz. The waltz is a form of rough horsing, and Roetke shows both in his poem, with tension jostling fun.
The rhythmic romp of the waltz can be felt in the poem's iambic trimetrical quatrains..
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy." (lines 1-4)
But although the whisky is mentioned, the father does not come off as a drunk. The poem is a little field of energy with each stanza its own compact form…...
Imagery in Theodore oethke's "My Papa's Waltz"
A poem's imagery is one of the most effective literary tools an author can use to better communicate the general theme of the poem itself to the reader. Imagery has the ability to transport a reader from a desk in a classroom or a chair in the library and place them in a world of the poet's own choosing. Effective imagery removes the boundaries that so often exist between a poem and its reader who may be struggling to make a connection. Such powerful use of imagery can be seen in Theodore oethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz," in which oethke utilizes powerful imagery to place the reader into the young boy's shoes to view his father through his eyes and in a far greater and more complicated context.
oethke's poem communicates a theme of tension and unspoken abuses that go on within the home in…...
mla
References
Roethke, Theodore. "My Papa's Waltz." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry,
Drama and Writing, 6th ed. Eds. Dana Gioia and X.J. Kennedy. New York, NY: Longman Publications. 2009. Print.
Theodore Roethke
In the American poet Theodore Roethke's poems "My Papa's altz," "Cuttings (Later)," and "Cuttings," ordinary aspects of the domestic environment, like a young child being taught to dance by his father or the routine pruning and cutting of plants, during springtime become life-lessons that I believe are not simply common to Roethke's earliest formative childhood experiences, but to all people. The physical objects and actions of the poems take on great symbolic significance, when funneled through the words of the poetic voice of Roethke. Dancing and pruning become rites of passage and religious actions, rather than everyday occurrences. Through such poetic images, Roethke underlines the fact that all experiences, from dancing to gardening can be both frightening and exhilarating, terrifying and religious, and joyous and important in the life of the poetic speaker.
In "My Papa's altz," the normally cheerful act of dancing, especially in a kitchen scene and…...
In an art form which imitates the lives of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, the star -- Kitty -- is a needy, insecure, and unstable actress. Putting the entire movie production at risk -- and her own reputation, as well -- her hysteria and fragile emotional state keep everyone on the edge of outright hostility. How can a world famous actress -- loved by millions -- not see what the rest of the world sees?
Flora, one of the star's acting coaches, makes several references to her emotional need for love, yet too often, "Love is the Great Impossibility." The well-meaning intentions of svengali-like coaches and a mild-mannered but well-respected writer husband do nothing to quell the fear living within Kitty's heart.
As Kitty lies prone and naked on her bed, prostrate with her own fear and power, Jerome -- one of several acting coaches -- looking…...
Papa's altz": Hints of Child Abuse or Suggestions of the Pains of a Hard Life?
Theodore Roethke's piece, "My Papa's altz," is a perfect example of the different interpretations that can come from a single work of poetry. The phrasing, at times, suggest that there are instances of child abuse, while at the same time, others could claim that it is simply a glimpse into a moment of time that a father spends with his son prior to bed time -- whisky simply being a numbing to the pains of life. Kerry Michael ood describes it best when he says that, "Roethke would be pleasantly surprised to know that his poem has become a generational litmus test - an almost sure-fire means of determining the age of the poem's readers" (ood, 1). Members of "Generation X," along with those who can relate to this era, have a tendency to take…...
mla
Works Cited
Wood, Kerry Michael. "Poetry analysis: My Papa's Waltz, by Theodore Roethke ." Helium: Where Knowlege Rules. Helium, 10 Novemeber 2010. Web. 3 May 2012. .
Introduction
Beginning a My Papa’s Waltz analysis essay can appear like a formidable task, as the poem is so simple, yet so enigmatic. Luckily, writing such an analysis essay can help you build a higher level of appreciation for the poem, as it can show you the layers of meaning embedded throughout each line. Close scrutiny of this poem can demonstrate the power that a precise word choice can wield in communicating feelings and visuals. In this piece, the words work together to create a picture of tension, uncertainty and danger. Written over fifty years ago, My Papa’s Waltz is still an example of writing that can comment upon the intricacies between parent and child.
Summary
My Papa’s Waltz is one of Theodore Roethke’s most famous poems, written in 1948 and included in the seminal volume The Lost Son and Other Poems. This is a collection of poems that documents the author’s beginnings…...
The speaker of Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” reflects on his abusive father. Using an ABAB CDCD rhyme scheme and fixed meter, the poet underscores the main motifs of music and dance. The titular waltz is a structured dance set to a specific type of music. Constrained by the form of the waltz, the speaker seems to have internalized guilt and complicity in his father’s behavior by suggesting that it takes two people to waltz. His “clinging”(line 12) and having “hung on like death” (line 3) add another dimension of pathos to an already heart-wrenching story. The reader will protest the child having any responsibility for the father’s behavior, adding to the dramatic tension in the poem. Music and dance symbolism also add a potent degree of irony to the poem, as a waltz is typically associated with fine art and not with domestic violence. The subtle cues in…...
My Papa's Waltz
The poem My Papa's Waltz is about the relationship between an abusive father and his child, who is the narrator and the point of perspective. The little boy is trying to hold onto his father literally in the poem, but the poem is likely written from the perspective of an older person, looking back at his childhood. He is trying to hold onto the love for his father, despite his father being an abusive alcoholic.
The waltz in the poem is of course not relating to a dance. The waltz is the metaphor for the father's movements when he's been drinking, movements that are described in terms like "every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle" and "you beat time on my head." The title adds meaning to the poem because a dance is like a routine, movements that are repeated, and the narrator is describing the…...
These are far different ways of symbolizing similar coping skills, but they do have many things in common. Both poems use symbolism to mean more to the reader, and they make the reader think about their own life, too. They do this by painting vivid word pictures.
Imagery in these poems is very important in getting the details across. Frost uses the peaceful image of a snowy wood to contrast with the narrator's clearly busy life. Frost writes, "He will not see me stopping here / To watch his woods fill up with snow" (Frost). The reader can almost see the image of the woods at dusk, and the silent falling flakes of snow. Who would not want to linger there? oethke's poem also uses vivid imagery to make the poem stick in the mind of the reader. He writes, "The hand that held my wrist / Was battered on…...
Family Unit Explored in "Papa's altz"
Family life is a complicated thing and while Hollywood might want us to think the family is a happy, cohesive unit, life proves it wrong. Reflecting life and its wide array of unexpected and unforeseen incidents, family life is a combination of the best and worst that life offers. Family life, at best, is bittersweet and "My Papa's altz," by Theodore Roethke demonstrates this point perfectly. Told from a child's point-of-view, the poem touches on how fear and love can exist at the same time.
The various elements of the family unit emerge in this poem. The tone of the poem reveals the speaker's mixed emotions toward his father. Through sensory descriptions, he allows readers to experience those emotions. For example, he smells whiskey on his father's breath, while still hanging onto him "like death" (Roethke 3). This is frightening when considered from a child's perspective…...
mla
Work Cited
Roethke, Theodore. "My Papa's Waltz." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 6th ed. Ed. Carl
E. Bain, et al. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1995. Print.
Papa's Waltz," the speaker mentions the booze on his father's breath, strong enough to make a "small boy dizzy," (Line 2). Theodore Roetke then opts to use the word "death" in the third line, creating instantly a tone of despair. The titular waltzing refers to the child having to dance around his father's abuse. He is also "waltzed off to bed," (Line 15). The irony of using the term "waltz" throughout adds complexity to the poem's tone. Waltzing is an odd choice of metaphor, because waltzing is dancing: something that is inherently joyful or happy. The "beating time" is not actually beating time to music but beating a child (Line 15). By using the metaphor of waltzing to discuss domestic violence, the poet draws even greater attention to the serious nature of the subject.
Simile and metaphor allow Sharon Olds to discuss sexuality and emotional intimacy. The first simile that…...
Robet Hayden's "The Whipping," and Theodoe Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" descibe child abuse. Both poets have simila appoaches to this weighty and sensitive subject matte. Hayden and Roethke avoid cliches, self-ighteousness, o judgmentalism, instead choosing to focus on the complex psychology undelying these issues. Howeve, neithe poet is willing to ovelook the need fo compassion and sympathy, even when dealing with abusive paents. This isn't to say that Hayden and Roethke ae insensitive o apologetic; quite the contay, both poets convey the pain and suffeing associated with child abuse. Using exquisite lyics and diction, the geneal theme is easy to figue out in both these poems. Howeve, Hayden's is told fom the pespective of an onlooke o neighbo, while Roethke's poem is told in fist peson, by the abused child. "The Whipping" is witten in fee vese without hymes, while "My Papa's Waltz contains a hyme scheme. In spite…...
mla
references to dancing. Lines like "Such waltzing was not easy," and "You beat time on my head" refer to the dance. Child abuse is connected to dancing, which is an unusual and provocative association. The child in Roethke's poem might have some sympathy toward her abusers. Likewise, the woman witnessing the abuse of the boy in "The Whipping" offers some compassion in the last few lines of the poem: "And the woman leans muttering against / a tree, exhausted, purged-- / avenged in part for her lifelong hidings / she has had to bear." In other words, she is probably perpetuating abuse that was perpetrated on her. In a sense, she is also a victim. While the poets do not condone child abuse, they offer uniquely sympathetic perspectives on the parents.
'"
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" ends with the family being executed by the Misfit, a murderous outlaw. Although O'Connor's story is evidently supposed to be humorous, it gives the reader pause to note that the family will die without ever exchanging a kind word. There are different types of family violence: the somewhat positive violence of the Roethke poem that makes the boy adore his father at the expense of his mother vs. The carelessness and cruelty in the O'Connor story, which arises as a result of a lack of respect and the superficiality of the modern family. Family relationships do not necessarily create a state of understanding. In the story, the most transcendent moment of grace occurs between two strangers, before one kills the other, as physical violence makes the grandmother appreciate her time on earth. "His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother's head cleared…...
mla
Works Cited
O'Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." UCF. December 8, 2009.
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library
of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
