I Hate How Much I Love You -My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke Explication Essay Theodore Roethke's ambiguous poem "My Papa’s Waltz" is filled with an interesting background that is directed toward the speaker and his father. This particular free verse is unique because it offers numerous situations that the child was put in with his father, more distinctly, the love toward the father. The incentive of this poetry displays how powerful the bond of loved ones can be; this is evident when the flaws of the father was overlooked and the speaker was still “clinging” onto his shirt. Upon reading the first stanza, it was obvious that the speaker realized that his father was drunk. However, in the mist of it all, he still cared and loved his father.
My Papa’s Waltz Summary Lines 1-2 The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; Judging by the title, the person addressed in these lines is the small boy's father, and the small boy is our speaker. The father has been drinking whiskey, and not just a little. He's so drunk that even the smell of his breath could make a small boy, like his son, feel a bit woozy. These lines show that the poem will address the father in the second person, referring to him as "you." But we don't think he's actually there with the boy because, after all, we hear nothing back from the man.
“rain had called up tall recruits behind the shed,” this quote shows the father cannot destroy them .They differ in the way they felt powerless however as in Nettles the father is feeling powerless because of a physical threat whereas in Harmonium it is an emotional threat of the inevibility of death and unspoken feelings that makes the writer feel powerless. Furthermore they both include the reality of family life as the poems are realistic and the poems, especially Nettles, have both the love and misery of family relationships. In Nettles the love in the poem is the protective instincts of a parent towards his son but the misery is the Nettles that had hurt his child and the fact that being protective isn’t enough to stop him from getting hurt. The realistic relationship in Harmonium is the family resentment and frustration from a son to his father. We can tell that the writer resents and is frustrated by his father as it says “and he being him can’t help but say.......... and I, being me” which shows that he is frustrated at their relationship.
“My Papa’s Waltz” is a magnificent short poem, with great tone and use of symbolism that also displays more than one example of theme. “My Papa’s Waltz” shows a young boy that either really loves or hates his father, depending on which theme you’re thinking of. As mentioned earlier there is more than just once theme in this poem, which makes this such an interesting poem. One way to look at this poem is where a hardworking father and his son are simply just horse playing, and wrestling around the house late one weekend night. Now this is the side of the story that I see, and the theme for this said would be the importance of family.
Sister Maude and Brothers 'Brothers ' explores the relationship between siblings and the way in which time inevitably, and regrettably, separates them. There is affection between the brothers, particularly in the adoration of the younger boy. This poem is about a boy spending an afternoon with his younger brother and his friend, and explores the relationship between siblings. It is written from an adult perspective but considers the feelings of the older brother who thinks of his younger brother as an inconvenience. In 'Sister Maude' a much more destructive relationship between siblings is presented.
The language and phrasing makes the poem seem strong and abrasive. For example the son is described to cling to his father “like death”. This reflects a negative sentence when really the son is holding to his father as to not fall to the ground when his father dances around the kitchen. I reasoned that there was a strong relationship between them. It is also important to note that the father had been drinking.
But looking closer it becomes very clear that it is the complete opposite. The boy is not holding on for his life like it is first assumed, but rather he is holding on like “death” so that this moment with his dad will never end because this is the first time he has ever had this kind of affection from his father. This is clearly a poem of the love that the boy and his father share.
In the beginning of the story, Brother recounts the day Doodle was born, saying that he was a disappointment as soon as he entered the world. The narrator was not satisfied with his brother, which resulted in the horrible things he thought about him. Brother said that “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable…” As a result, the narrator enjoyed torturing Doodle, threatening to abandon him multiple times. He even took Doodle to see the casket that was built for him, and forced him to touch it. The narrator basked in the control he had over his brother.
Sedaris and Sanders both describe their events with an emotional state in their lives, one being "Cyclops" which describes his father's exaggerated messages towards dangerous encounters as "Under the Influence" by Sanders causes a mournful tone as he recollects his father's alcoholism. "Under the influence" By Sanders truly sparked a dramatic scene in my head as I read his story as a kid dealing with a dramatic house hold experience. He dealt with a loving relative which happened to be his father, self destruct before his eyes as he watched helplessly. I can remember being at that age, where most things seem simple until I met my fathers other half. It was like night and day as weekdays turned into weekends and father figures turning me into an agitated and frusterated kid.
A Waltz to Remember In many different poems throughout time various readers have been coming up with different meanings. One poem that shows that is a great example of just that is “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. By simply reading the poem through some of the language Roethke uses could lead the reader to believe that the poem is about abuse. “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). But though alcohol can cause one to be angry and abusive, it is also know to make you dance and sing.