Meaning of the My PAPA’S WALTZ POEM BY THEODORE ROETHKE
So far as, My PAPA’S WALTZ ANALYSIS and SUMMARY are concerned, speak about the hardship of life. The poem is written by an American poet in 1942. The poem has had several underlying interpretations since its publication. Various critics and analytics have given several meanings to the poem “My PAPA’S WALTZ POEM”. The poem is assumed to be a tug of war-between two generating forces of fear and love. Different critics have the viewpoint that the poem manifests the force of affection and love by the father and the force of admiration and fear by the boy. The two opposing forces in the poem generate the whole effect in the poem. Child abuse is a recurrent theme in literature that happens everywhere in the world. In this poem, the poet has tried to catch a glimpse of child abuse through two opposing characters father and son. The poet is interested to present the idea of the physical existence of child abuse in the world. He tries to explore the different aspects of child abuse in his poem. Thus poet has given an insight to readers to highlight a deep relationship between a son and a drunken father. My Papa’s Waltz is a kind of sad and depressing piece of literature. The poem highlights the tone of affection through his language and diction. At the very first glance, the poem is assumed to be a portrayal of a very charming and happy family. But later in the poem, the speaker of the poem is interested to present the details about certain things. The speaker conveys the idea that things on the super facial level are looking digestible but on the deeper level they need reformations. The characters are not as happy as they are looking by their facial expressions. The poem is highly illustrative of the tension between the father and the son in the poem. The tension represented in the poem might turn into a violent force between the characters later.
“My PAPA’S WALTZ” POEM Summary, analysis and meaning and theme
This is a thought-provoking poem by Roekhte. The poem seems to be quite complex and ambiguous at the same time. The poem “My PAPA’S WALTZ POEM” is highly suggestive and conveys several meanings and themes. The poem “My PAPA’S WALTZ POEM” has a deeper as well surface meaning and theme. On the surface level, the poem presents the scene of roughhousing between a drunken father and son. “My PAPA’S WALTZ ANALYSIS and summary start here they seemed to be dancing and enjoying themselves in the kitchen together. But the speaker himself conveys the idea that we can smell some kind of tension between the relationship of father and son on a deeper level. In the critical sense or analysis, the things going on are not straightforward as they are really looking in this poem “My PAPA’S WALTZ”. The poet suggests that there could be the presence of violent force between the two. The described dancing movements in the poem are used as extended metaphors and they are highly suggestive. These dancing movements are used to explicit the confused feelings and conflicted thoughts of the boy towards his father in the poem. The speaker of the poem seems to be suffering from some kind of hidden fear. The poem also manifests the hidden love and tension between the two characters that act as a universal force to divide the two. The poem is symbolic of the limitations of traditional masculinity. The language in the poem suggests that their dancing movement is light-hearted and romp. There is huge intensity of tenderness in the dancing movement of the two characters. The poem ends with the violent act of the boy is being carried to bed by his father. On the surface level, the end of the poem is quite suggestive and sweet. The speaker of the poem suggests different ideas to convey and undermine the happy image of both characters. The knocking of the pans by the father in the kitchen is also symbolic and suggestive. This shows that different things have gone out of control from the hands of the two characters and things on the deeper level have gone rough and traumatic. The poem is full of different conflicting themes regarding violent actions. The poem also highlights the limits of conventional masculinity reflected through the relationship between father and son. The father is presented as the head and the guardian of the family and the boy seems to be less dominant throughout the poem. The role of the mother in the poem is only restricted to keeping quiet and only frowning throughout the poem. The boy remained attached to his father through the association of strong feelings. The different themes in the poem are treated as extended metaphors to show the complexity of the relationship between the two characters.
The dancing movement presented in the poem depicts something spontaneous and playful which seems quite familiar to the readers. It can be suggested as a kind of touching memory between the father and the son. The poem is full of speculations about the instances of violence and fear that are going to be the cause of tension later in the poem. Pans are portrayed as the domestic object in the mid of the poem. These are used to elaborate the household choirs that are going to be executed in the house. They are often referred to as disrupting symbols of the togetherness of family. They are often treated as symbols of bonding between different characters in the poem. The poem has consisted of four stanzas. The poem has very rhythmic and pleasant music to convey a special effect. The poems thus have an immediate effect in order to convey symbolic meaning.
The father is portrayed as clumsy and drunken in the poem through different rhymes. Thus the reader is able to suspect the hidden meanings presented through the commentary of the speaker. The poem could be titled as a confessional poem because it contains autobiographical details. The speaker in the poem is also making confessions in the poem regarding his crucial relationship with his father. The poem is presented in the form of a traditional ballad and the poet is interested in modification of several conflicting themes. The speaker seems to be highly interested in presenting every detail of his relationship with his father. At the end of the poem, we reach the conclusion point that “My PAPA’S WALTZ POEM SUMMARY, ANALYSIS, THEME and MEANING” has been suggested to be a tug of war between two generating forces of fear and love.