I believe this poem is reflective of Roethke’s difficult childhood. It gives the reader an introspective look at the father through the voice of the young son. “My Papa’s Waltz”, talks about how the person of the poem struggled growing up to the tune of a life he had to live with parents that are either unhappy or abusive. In the poem, the speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. A poem with short or few stanzas leaves “a lot of white space” on the page, Roethke wrote, but that forces “those lines to stand up by themselves” (Kizer 6).
Throughout “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien uses symbolism to reflect the men’s necessity to feel hope and optimism among the destruction surrounding their lives. An example of this implementation is his description of the letters that Lieutenant (Lt.) Cross received from Martha, a female acquaintance back home. He says, “They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping…” (178). Again he discusses this place in the Lieutenant’s mind where he must go to get away from the inherent horror and gravity of the situation he is in when O’Brien writes that at dusk the Lieutenant would “hold them with the tip of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending” (178) and that “he would imagine camping trips into White Mountains in New Hampshire” (178). Just the simple thought of Martha and spending time with her seems to be what Lt. Cross needs to escape from all this weight that they carried as O’Brien
Consider the ways in which Heaney explores his memories in ‘Mid-term break’ and ‘Digging’. In the poems ‘Digging’ and ‘Mid-term break’, Heaney portrays his childhood memories through both negatives and positive feelings. In ‘Mid-term break’, the death of his brother expresses both peaceful and soothing moments, as well as feelings of loneliness and isolation. In ‘Digging’, we are connected with Heaney’s thoughts and taken back in time to explore his Irish past, and family connection to the rich soil and land. His choice to continue writing instead of carrying out the tradition of farming separates him from his family.
Jonson again tries to stop the feeling of grief by saying that his son was lucky to have missed, “no other miserie, yet age?” This suggests that Jonson is glad that his son has escaped old age. The theme of “On my first Sonne,” is very simple, a father’s grief at the death of his young son. This feeling is similar in “Mid-Term Break,” as it is of grief at a young person’s death. At the start of his poem, Heaney explores how a variety of different people dealt with this grief and then goes onto subtly hint at what he felt, whereas Jonson just talks solely about his personal experiences and feelings towards his dead son. “Mid-Term Break,” is overall more subtle in telling the reader about the poets grief.
Even though Peter had started the poem adoring his father creates a sense that he did not belong with his him. His use of hyperbole ‘spent years walking its perimeter/ from sunrise to sleep’ exaggerates the amount of time Feliks dedicated to nurturing his garden. This allows the audience to know that the garden was creating a complication of father and son to belong to each other. In stanza two, visual imagery is used to show the sense of belonging that proves Felik’s connection to the garden and not his son. It quotes ‘From cement, fingers with cracks,’ suggesting that Feliks is starting to become more like his garden and can not wash away his polish heritage.
“My Papa’s Waltz” is an endearing poem about a young boy that longs for the undivided attention of his working father. The first quatrain sets the tone for the rest of the poem and needs little interpretation. It explains how the father is intoxicated, but the little boy disregards it and clings to his father anyway. The little boy wanted to be with his father and this was the only way it was going to happen. So he seizes the opportunity and goes with it, however uncomfortable the situation is for him.
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest (Simon, Woodley, 1968).” I can tell from this statement that most likely his family and loves ones tried to persuade him not to leave his home but he decided to listen to what he wanted to hear. In the second paragraph he continues to describe how he lived among strangers, and gives the impression that he was homeless. He looked for a job without success“Asking only workman’s wages I come looking for a job But I get no offers (Simon, Woodley, 1968).” The author makes us feel compassion for this young man by stating that he sometimes he would feel very lonely that he would look for company with the “whores”. “There were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there (Simon, Woodley, 1968).” The young man would like to go home away from the cold winters in New York City, but probably
Patrick describes how he knows his father and what some of his father’s last wishes were. He also advices to read Ernest Hemingway’s letters instead of all of the biographies available. I was surprised with the amount of information that I was able to find that supported my theme/main idea of “Heart break”. In my opinion Soldiers Home is really about a man with a broken heart. Most of the work I used suggests that Hemingway was a man who could not live without being in love.
How do Heaney and Sheers use language and imagery to communicate their ideas about relationships? Heaney and Sheers demonstrate similar and alternative recurring themes within the relationships in their poems. Heaney often discusses the distance from his father within their relationship, due to their differences with careers, ability and age. Alternatively Sheers often represents his parents with a positive outlook, referring back to the strength of their relationships within the family. Heaney looks up to his father with pride at his ability within his work and the skill in what he does, this is a recurring theme and can be seen within ‘Digging’, “By God, the old man could handle a spade”.
Whereas, Armitage shows a son who finds it harder to describe his feelings for his father, and shows it by using an extended metaphor of a harmonium, in order to show the reader all the memories he has had because of his father, and how he loves him. The way his father jokes about his own death is an example of the stereotypical father and son relationship; not as open about feelings. ...read