Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother ’s countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt‚ Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt The poem‚ "My Papa ’s Waltz"‚ written by Theodore Roethke‚ is written in such a way that creates many debate and contestation
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Thesis 1 When first reading “My Papa’s Waltz” I got the impression of an abusive household where the father beats the son and the mother stands idly by allowing this to happen. After a couple more reads I saw the humor of the words explaining a clumsy waltz between a father and son. There are satiric words used leading many to believe that the son is being abused‚ but there are also contradictions in those words which leads in a different direction. My final direction is that the father is abusing
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Upon reading Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” one would think the poem entirely talks about the dance and how it was special and memorable to the speaker just by the title. However‚ this ‘waltz’ is interpreted many different ways in the poem. The poem starts off describing the speaker’s presumed father’s smell of “whiskey on your breath” to show that he was drinking heavily (Roethke 1). This smell can also be described as quite strong because of the fact that it “could make a small boy dizzy” (2). This
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In the poem‚ My Papa’s Waltz‚ Theodore Roethke talks about a young boy’s relationship with his father. I think that the poem talks about how the young boy loves his father but their relationship is strained. I also think that the young boy fears that his father will drink himself to death. There is a lot of imagery in this poem. There are descriptions like‚ “we romped around until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf. There is imagery in every stanza. Roethke uses great word choice too. It is imperative
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Essay……………………………………………………………………………………………………2 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………5 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………6 Introduction: For this paper‚ you will be able to encounter the various meanings‚ tones‚ structure‚ my personal opinion and analysis of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. For more to add‚ you will also encounter with a brief biography of the poet Roethke which will explain why the poet wrote this poem and how much meaning it has for him. The reason why I chose this
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My Papa’s Waltz Reading this poem brings back memories from my early child. I remember being ten or eleven and going to daddy daughter dances at the community center. When they discuss the Whiskey on his breath‚ I remember smelling the grease on my father. He was never one to drink‚ which is something I find very respectable; but he worked in a GM factory so he smelled often smelled of grease. This became a comforting smell since as a child I always associate with my father. Dancing at these dances
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BEN & JERRY’S Ben (Ben Cohen) & Jerry’s (Jerry Greenfield) is an American ice cream company‚ a division of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate‚ that manufactures ice cream‚ frozen yogurt‚ sorbet‚ and ice cream novelty products. These are manufactured by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings‚ It is best known as a premium ice cream brand‚ founded in 1978 in Burlington‚ Vermont. HISTORY Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were childhood friends from New York . On May 5‚ 1978‚ with a $5 correspondence
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My Papa’s Waltz I believe I am living a good life. My parents love me and provide me with all the things my heart desires‚ so creating a connection with the child in the poem‚ “My Papa’s Waltz‚” seemed as an impossible task. Yet‚ I have made a startling discovery with the child in the poem‚ and that is the way he and I both downplay the horrors in our lives. The boy in this poem is receiving scars from his father whose senses are muddled up to the point that he isn’t even in this world‚ though
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Love or Abuse? That is the Question Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” tells the reader of a small boy’s memory of his father. It explains how his father is intoxicated and the scene that goes along with it. Roethke’s style in this poem leaves the reader with the task of determining if he speaks of abuse or a happy reminiscence. Critics describe it as being a “mixture of tenderness and brutality” (Malkoff). In the first two lines‚ he recounts the smell of his father’s breath. Roethke’s use
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Although both Robert Hayden’s poem “The Whipping” and Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” both speak about abuse‚ they have very different tones. Hayden’s poem carries a tone of anger directed towards abusers. On the other hand‚ Roethke’s poem has a tone of pity for the abused. This difference can be accounted for by the narrator’s differing attitudes towards the abuse. The narrator in “The Whipping” is tormented by the memories of abuse. The memories bring him only pain and fear. He mentions
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