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
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As I listened to “My Papa’s Waltz” being read aloud I felt a connection to it; a connection that I did not feel when I read it to myself. When I heard the poem aloud I was able to connect it my own life and the drunken “waltz” of a hard working father taking his son to bed. The performance added to the poem because it brought the words to life. I am a hearing learner so listen to the poem made it easier for me to comprehend it. However the performance did not change my perception of the poem
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My Papa’s Waltz Interpretation In My Papa’s Waltz the kid goes describes what it is like doing the waltz with his father. Their recollection seems to be something in between a positive and negative memory by having a change of mind in the middle of the poem. They discusses how their mother feels about the damage that they are causing‚ how the smell on their father’s breath smelt like whiskey‚ described what their father was like. Even though the kid was having fun the mother was not happy because
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"My Papa’s Waltz" Analysis In the poem "My Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke‚ the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. Some people think that this poem is one of a happy relationship between a father and son. Other people believe that this poem has a hidden message of parental abuse. In my point of view‚ the imagery and language‚ the symbolism‚ and tone in the poem gave me the impression of the love between the father and son‚ not of an abusive relationship. You
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Theodore Roethke wrote the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” which reflects on his childhood memories of his father carrying him to bed. He reminisces about a past memory of him clinging to his father while walking through the house in a drunken state. He remembers how the voluminous smell of whiskey on his father’s breath could make him dizzy. How his father would accidently knock the pans until they fell off the kitchen shelf still lingers in his memory. He recalls his ear being scraped against his father’s
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Creative Analysis: “My Papa’s Waltz: The Sequel” 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
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"My Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke is a four quatrain poem written in iambic trimeter. The rhyme scheme present is abab‚ cdcd‚ efef‚ and ghgh. In the poem‚ the son is remembering a time when his father‚ who was excessively drunk at the time‚ carrying him through the kitchen off to bed. It was a rough‚ almost abusive‚ journey though because his father‚ who is already drunkenly waltzing him‚ is probably not used to handling things with care at work since his hands are described as "caked hard by
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parent-child relationship and is utterly unjustifiable. Every person has a father and has their own reflections of the personal feelings they have encountered‚ nevertheless these feelings can be those of affection or feelings of resentment. The poem‚ “My Papa’s Waltz” (Roethke) illustrates a son’s reminiscence of waltzing with his father as a young boy‚ painting a picture of love and admiration towards his father. However‚ because the poet seems isolated‚ a reader’s perception can vary throughout the poem
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reading “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke‚ one might infer a violent commotion between a father and son. However‚ if read closely‚ a reader will notice that the boy hung onto his father throughout the entirety of the waltz despite becoming “dizzy” (line 2)‚ and “scrapped” (line 12). In fact‚ in this poem‚ the narrator is reflecting upon a joyful memory he had with his father. Firstly‚ if a person were to dissect the title of the poem‚ “My Papa’s Waltz‚” they would discover that “Papa” is a term
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The poem My Papa’s Waltz describes a child’s nostalgia towards his conflicted relationship with his father. In this poem the tone of the speaker is characterized by the deep devotion and love he felt towards his father during his youth. Looking back on the time his father spent playing with him when he was a child‚ the speaker describes “[hanging] on like death” and “clinging to [his] shirt” (Roethke 3‚16). These childlike descriptions show that the speaker felt a deep devotion to his father and
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