Tone Of The Whipping By Theodore Roethke

A Comparative Analysis The Whipping by Robert Hayden, unlike My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, effectively encourages feelings of empathy in the reader through its explicit theme, diction and shifts. The Whipping has an explicit theme of abuse. This is recognized immediately because of the title itself. The reader can infer that this poem is a negative piece with abusive actions. However, My Papa’s Waltz does not have an obvious theme. The title may sound pleasant to the reader for it does not have a noticeable negative tone. The theme of abuse is directly stated in The Whipping, “The old woman across the way/is whipping the boy again…” (ll. 1-2). This can invoke an immediate empathetic response from the reader because it is clear to understand what is happening in the poem. In My Papa’s Waltz, a boy reminisces dancing with his father, “But I hung on like
There is a shift from the third stanza to the fourth stanza which is clearly seen with the colon on the last line, “…to woundlike memories:” (l. 12). The shift is from the speaker observing the boy getting whipped to remembering something in his or her past. The colon indicates that the next stanza is about a painful memory and the ellipsis in line 18 indicates the end of the memory. However since an ellipsis is chosen as the punctuation the reader can infer that there is more to be said. The fourth stanza uses the personal pronoun “my” which can make the reader feel as if they are in the speakers place. This recollection the speaker has included harsh words such as, “wrench, writhing and struggle” which can help the reader feel the pain of the speaker. This can result into the reader feeling empathy. My Papa’s Waltz does not have any clear shifts in the poem. The poem in general seems to have two sides to it which affects the reader’s perspective. Feelings of empathy can be produced in the reader but it is not done