My Papa\'s Waltz (1) - Grade: B PDF

Preview

Summary

With this essay, it was different than the normal essays because I had to write about a poem I read named "My Papa's Waltz and within the essay, I could not summarize the poem. I had to break down the poem line by line/ stanza by stanza as if I was the author breaking down his own poem....

Description

McDonald 1 Keniya McDonald Professor Turbee ENC 1102 31 March 2019

My Papa’s Waltz “My Papa’s Waltz” written by Theodore Roethke, is an intriguing poem that depends on the readers’ perspective for interpretation. Theodore presents a numerous amount of themes within his poem. These themes consist of family issues, love, power, authority, manhood, and controversely child abuse. Many people think that Theodore wrote this poem to provide a hidden message to the world that he was being mistreated as a child. While other people believe that he merely was conjuring up a childhood memory of his father. What many people don’t know is, Theodore Roethke father, Otto Roethke died of cancer when he was 14 years old. Potentially, this could mean that Theodore may have written this poem in honor of his father. In my point of view, the tone the author used as well as his diction, imagery, and symbolism----were all impressions of the love he shared for his father. There was no indication within the poem that the author expressed he was receiving physical abuse from his father. The main symbol within the poem is “waltz”. The waltz is a dance between two people. Thus, symbolizing the relationship between Theodore and his fathher. The word “Papa” as used in the title represents an affectionate word for a father. Instead of saying my father, Theodore used a more affectionate word, “Papa”. Even in a situation with his father being drunk, Theodore does not use any type of words to discredit his father. Within the first stanza of the poem, the

McDonald 2 author states, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy; but I hung on like death,” (lines 1-3) shows that despite his father being drunk, he held on to him. The image presented here is of a child and his father dancing around the house with the boy having to hold on “like death”. The author uses the metaphor of comparing hanging on to his father to death. The word “death” in the poem, could have been used to feel for the child trying to hold on to his father who is swaying uncontrollably. Hence, why the author says, “Such waltzing was not easy”( line 4). Theodore then goes into saying, “My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself”(lines 7&8) presents an image of a mother that could not stop frowning due to the actions of her drunk husband dancing in the kitchen with their son. In lines 5 and 6, the author states, “We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf”, indicates how the mother is not happy of the situation, for her husband and her child were now making her kitchen a mess. Theodore then goes into describing his father’s hand. “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” (line 9 &10) The word “battered” in this line is describing his father’s hand as being beat up as if his father works hard. This could mean his father works hard and has a job that requires hands-on labor. Hence, why he came home drunk in the first place. After a long day of work, his father may have needed a drink. The last line of poem, "waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt" (line 15-16) shows that the boy is very dependent on his father and shows his father loves him very much.

Works Cited Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43330/my-papas-waltz.

McDonald 3 Wanda, et al. “My Papa's Waltz.” PoemHunter.com, 3 Jan. 2003, www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-papa-s-waltz/....