My Papa'z Waltz

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Children normally feel loved by parents when they are growing up. The four stanza poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, tells us that not every child has a perfect parent who gives love. This poem is telling a story about a drunken father who is dancing with his little child, but the action seems less loving and less caring. From the imagery, language and symbolism of this poem, there is a hidden message of fear and love in child abuse. Roethke develops violent imagery which is associated with the father to create an impression of child abuse. This child abuse from the father is happening due to the adverse effect of alcohol. At the beginning of this poem, the son, who is the speaker of this poem, starts with the reason of dancing waltz with the father. Reader can imagine that the father is so drunk when they are dancing the waltz through olfactory imagery of whiskey in line one Reader can see that the father does not only drink a small amount of whiskey. He is so drunk that even the smell of his breath could make his son, who is just “a small boy”, feels a bit woozy. In the first two lines, it establishes the father is drunk by the sense of smell, which is a situation that can lead to violence. The action of dancing is normally associated with a series of elegant step but the imagery from this poem show that it is not. Baird also suggests that the “waltz” may be the father’s unconscious way of punishing his son. (Baird 12) Readers can imagine the action of their waltz from line five to six. Their step of dance is not elegant but “romped.”(line 5) This two line give visual and kinetic imagery to what happen if they dance in a “kitchen” and they dance next to the pan.(line 6) If they “slid” to the “kitchen,” there is a possibility for the pans fall down.(line 6) Readers can imagine the mess and the noise that they make it is if all the pans fell down. It is

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