My Papa's Waltz: Anylisis
My Papa's Waltz
By Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on
your breath
Could make a
small boy dizzy;
But I hung on
like death:
Such waltzing
was not easy.
We romped until
the pans
Slid from the
kitchen shelf;
My mother’s
countenance
Could not
unfrown itself.
The hand that
held my wrist
Was battered on
one knuckle;
At every step
you missed
My right ear
scraped a buckle.
You beat time on
my head
With a palm
caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me
off to bed
Still clinging
to your shirt.
Analysis:
My Papa’s Waltz is a poem that was written by the poet
and writer Theodore Roethke. The poem was well accepted and is still one of
Theodore’s best works. The poem narrates the perspective of a child towards
their dad.
On the other hand, when it comes to meaning, the poem
has a single structure with a great and deep truth about what the kid sees. For
instance, in the first stanza, line one and two, say that the whisky on your breath could make a small boy dizzy; if we analyze
the lines, the kid expresses a certain concern that the father could provoke.
Due to the dad’s whisky-smelly breath, we can infer that after drinking a lot,
the father used to go back home and create that impression on his child. In fact, the tone is innocent and at the same
time fearful, which creates such an idea on the reader of how the kid’s life
could have been like.
Apart from this, the poem provides good examples of assonance. In stanza fourth, line thirteen and fourteen, the rhyme end with the vowel sound of the words head and bed. Also, in stanza first, line two and four, the vowel sound rhymes with the words dizzy and easy. The poem does not show alliteration nor consonance in the rest of the stanzas.
About
the author:
Theodore Roethke was an
American poet who was born on May 25, 1908. According to Britannica (2020), he
was an ‘‘American
poet whose verse is characterized by introspection, intense lyricism, and an
abiding interest in the natural world.’’ Roethke attended to the University of
Michigan. According to Poetry Foundation (n.d.) ‘‘he briefly attended Harvard
Law School, where he studied with poet Robert Hillyer, but he abandoned law
school due to the Great Depression.’’ Additionally, Roethke wrote a book of
great called Open house, which was published in 1941. Many of his works left a mark due to his way
of writing. In fact, the Poetry Foundation (n.d.) mentions that ‘‘his difficult
childhood, his bouts with bipolar disorder, and his ceaseless search for truth
through his poetry writing led to a difficult life, but also helped to produce
a remarkable body of work that would influence future generations of American
poets to pursue the mysteries of one’s inner self.’’
Works Cited
‘‘My Papa’s Waltz.’’ Poetry Foundation, n.d, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43330/my-papas-waltz. Accessed 22 November 2020.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ‘‘Theodore Roethke.’’ Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 28 July 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudyard-Kipling. Accessed 21 November 2020.
‘‘Theodore Roethke.’’ Poetry Foundation, n.d, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/theodore-roethke. Accessed 22 November 2020.
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