Papa's Waltz and Digging
“My Papa’s Waltz” and “Digging”
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney, both the poems are about the poet’s relationship with their father when they were young. Both fathers work as laborers and both poets appreciates their father for their hard work, but they have a distant relationship with them.
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the poet mentions that his father’s hand have a battered knuckle on one hand and a palm caked hard by dirt which shows that his father probably have a job with hard labor. When he gets off work, he would drink a lot and dance with the poet. Although the poet doesn’t complain to his father because he knows that his father is really tired and that is why he drank, he is afraid of his father because his father’s buckle accidently hits him once in awhile. In “Digging”, basically the whole poem was about his father and his grandfather working together digging out potatoes. The poet’s father’s job was to probably sell potatoes for a living which is hard labor also. He sees how hard they work since they can dig out the potatoes with just their bare hands and he himself can’t. He appreciates his father for his hard work because he sees how hard his father straining his rump digging for potatoes.
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the poet has a distant relationship with his father. He doesn’t tell his father how he feels towards him when he drinks and dances with him. He doesn’t tell him that his buckle hits him sometimes when they dance. Their relationship is so distant that they don’t talk to each other much and so distant that the poet is afraid to talk to his father. In “Digging”, the poet also has a distant relationship with his father. He doesn’t tell his father that he doesn’t want to take over the potato filled land and sell potatoes for a living. He sees his future with his pen which would mean he wants to be a writer, but since he has a distant relationship with his father he just keeps that knowledge to himself.
In
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney, both the poems are about the poet’s relationship with their father when they were young. Both fathers work as laborers and both poets appreciates their father for their hard work, but they have a distant relationship with them.
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the poet mentions that his father’s hand have a battered knuckle on one hand and a palm caked hard by dirt which shows that his father probably have a job with hard labor. When he gets off work, he would drink a lot and dance with the poet. Although the poet doesn’t complain to his father because he knows that his father is really tired and that is why he drank, he is afraid of his father because his father’s buckle accidently hits him once in awhile. In “Digging”, basically the whole poem was about his father and his grandfather working together digging out potatoes. The poet’s father’s job was to probably sell potatoes for a living which is hard labor also. He sees how hard they work since they can dig out the potatoes with just their bare hands and he himself can’t. He appreciates his father for his hard work because he sees how hard his father straining his rump digging for potatoes.
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the poet has a distant relationship with his father. He doesn’t tell his father how he feels towards him when he drinks and dances with him. He doesn’t tell him that his buckle hits him sometimes when they dance. Their relationship is so distant that they don’t talk to each other much and so distant that the poet is afraid to talk to his father. In “Digging”, the poet also has a distant relationship with his father. He doesn’t tell his father that he doesn’t want to take over the potato filled land and sell potatoes for a living. He sees his future with his pen which would mean he wants to be a writer, but since he has a distant relationship with his father he just keeps that knowledge to himself.
In