Professor Emeritus John McKenna has a critical essay of Theodore Roethke's poem, "My Papa's Waltz", which he analyzes and points out the different ways that people read the poem. According to McKenna, "My Papa's Waltz" is not a complex or long poem, but it has "intriguing ambiguity that elicits starling different interpretations" (1). Roethke's poem is constructed in four stanzas using a precise selection of words that have both literal and figurative meanings. The scene portrays a pleasant memory of a father and son roughhousing before the boy's bedtime. Roethke's selection of words emphasize that the action shows a happy family time. Although Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz" can be interpreted as positive or negative, his word choice, imagery, and characters strongly portray this scene as a happy family moment.
Both Roethke and McKenna support the idea that this is a happy family scene through word choice in the title, dance, and physical contact. The title of the poem reveals Roethke's intention to show the boy's love for his father by using the comfortable word papa instead of the formal father. Besides that, he uses waltzing instead of dance to show that even when the father is drunk, he still has some control and direction when he puts his son to bed. Based on McKenna's piece, the word waltz "suggest[s] that the elegant, refined texture of a waltz was what [Roethke] wanted. This allowed him to add a more genteel aspect to the depicted scene" (4). In the fourth stanza, Roethke uses the word beat; although this word could have a negative connotation, in this case it shows that the father is trying to keep time to the music by tapping on his son's head. .
The imageries of the poem are seen throughout their playful moment in the kitchen, the mother's face, and the waltz to the bedroom. In the poem, "My Papa's Waltz," Roethke shows a picture of a playful moment between a son and his father: .
Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" is a fixed form poem of sixteen lines. Roethke created the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, ghgh. Roethke uses this rhyme scheme to make it sound as if the poem is a waltz. ... The waltz is an overall extended metaphor. ... Roethke uses the words "battered" and "death" to make the tone of the poem sad (3,10). ...
"My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke depicts a father's rough behavior towards his young son. ... At the same time the boy summarizes these events as a "waltz." ... Roethke's use of the terms "Papa" and "Waltz" in the title, as opposed to "Father" and "Dance" stand for a relationship that, at its core, is loving and genuine. ... His mother disapproves, as the speaker shows when he says, "My mother's countenance/ Could not unfrown itself." ... Though Roethke portrays this "waltz" in a harsh and almost painful manner, it is obvious that the father and son are having a playf...
I first thought of "My Papa's Waltz- by Theodore Roethke as a disturbing portrayal of a father beating his child, despite it's playful form, which imitates the cadence of a waltz in the meter of its stanzas very well. ... Therefore we can say that "My Papa's Waltz- accommodates starting points for multiple interpretations. By citing ambivalent expressions and lines I am going to support my first as well as my second impression of the poem. Roethke's use of very strong and powerful language and words such as "death-, "beat- as well as "battered- directs the reader'...
Theodore Roethke "My Papa's Waltz" can be used as an example of this theory. ... The poem "My Papa's Waltz" has a double meaning it is either a waltz between a father and son, thus bringing them closer together, or on the darker side it is a fight between a drunken father and his son where the intimacy of the dance is overshadowed by the anger the reader feels from his her past. In this poem Theodore Roethke finagles our emotions with his literary conventions. ... To determine the true understanding of this poem the reader must first learn the background of Theod...
In the poem "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke, the speaker is talking about childhood experience that involved his father. ... The reason why I believe that this is nothing but a playful relationship between the father and son is for example when Roethke says "My mother's countenance / Could not unfrown itself "(1l. 7-8) it basically means that if child was actually getting beat, Roethke's mother would have reacted more than with just a simple face expression on her face if she realized it was getting intense. ... Also throughout the poem Roethke quotes, " Still clinging t...
"My Papa's Waltz" i. ... "My Papa's Waltz" i. ... "My Papa's Waltz," by Roethke, is narrated by the child of the subject. ... In "My Papa's Waltz," Roethke permits the speaker to use many images to show his father's inebriated waltz, his mother's unhappiness, and his father's hard domineer. ... The poems, "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke, and "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas, expresses the subject of a male, gives different point of views, different voices, and different tones. ...
Theodore Rathkes "My Papa's Waltz", purposefully denies us that concise description, using simile imagery that allows a widely varied opinion of the characters playing out the events within the household, based on the readers feelings and experiences. ... Comparing that with Roethke's opening lines, his similes have a designed lack of exactness, ensuring that the reader will not be steered into any predetermined picture, but instead, can draw from a multitude of different images based on their personal experiences. ... The two sentences, "My right ear scraped a buckle, every t...
A lot of that can be found in Theodore Roethke's poems, written back in the 40's. My Papa's Waltz is a perfect example of such unique characteristic that time represents. ... Considering the title of the poem, the word "Waltz" should mean some kind of music / dance typical to them. ... But the last part of "My Papa Waltz" will probably drive the audience to a mistaken point once again. ... Concluding the analysis of "My Papa's Waltz", from the author's second volume of poems The lost son (1948), with the clear and specified idea Theodore Roethke wanted the audience to ...
"My Papa's Waltz" vs. "Those Winter Sundays" The poem "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke describes the scene of dance between a father and his son. ... The tone of "My Papa's Waltz" differs from the tone in "Those Winter Sundays". ... "My Papa's Waltz" has image of excitement and enjoyment. ... Apparently the works of Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have certain similarities, such that the poems deal with men remembering their father's attitude. ...
