... 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 ... ...

• Word Count: 612
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... being between him and his father. The dance itself isn't the most loving and is in turn frightening to him at the time, but it meaning is ultimately inconclusive. The ambiguity extends to the rest of the poem. Does the child's mother frown because of the father's tipsiness, the destruction wreaked by the dance, the violence of the dance itself, or ... ...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School