The three texts discuss the father's importance in the son's maturation.

In the poem entitled "My Papa's Waltz," the author is writing about a son and his father doing some sort of activity. Throughout the poem some negative sounding words are used to describe certain events in the poem. I happened to choose the positive side because of the ending. The poem reflects a positive feeling at the end, "Then waltzed me off to bed / still clinging to your shirt."(15-16). This sounds like the boy fell asleep while waltzing with his father. In this particular poem the father has been drinking, "The whiskey on you breath / could make a small boy dizzy"(1-2). That line combined with the word death (3) gives the poem a starting bad feeling. It makes it sound like the father has been drinking and something bad is happening. The introduction of the word waltzing opens a new though pattern though. A waltz is a certain type of dance but when used in this line "Such waltzing

make any activity harder for him then the father. "We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf"(5-6). When I think of romping, I think of a little boy and a puppy romping in the grassy fields. No different in this case. The father is romping with his son. "My mothers countenance / could not un-frown itself."(7-8). The mother isn't happy with what the guys are doing. In general mother always seem to disapprove of rough housing. The boy's father does have a job, which is important to the son in maturing. To mature a child needs nourishment. To get nourishment, the parents have to have a job in which they can earn money to support the child. "The hand that held my wrist / Was battered on one knuckle"(9-10). "With a palm caked hard by dirt"(14). His father has a job that requires labor. Not only does his knuckle have a scraped, but also his hands are dirty. This poem suggests that the child waited till the father returned home from work late at night, "Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt."(15-16). A child needs his father and proves it by waiting up for him.

to do. "We cobbled the drive / with walnuts gathered in baskets and cardboard boxes,"(2-3). The son shows no negative feelings towards this activity. The fact that they do it repeatedly, "forward and backward, / time and again until the air was bitter to breathe "(5-6) proves that both of them love what they are doing. In a normal situation around a work place, most people would stop working if the air were difficult to breathe but not these two. However, it's not what they are doing that they love, it is each other they love. Evidence of this is near the end of the poem. " I wished with all my heart that he might live forever"(20). This line indicates that the son does not want to part from his father. This line also goes in the direction that the boy's father is past away when the speaker is speaking.

was not easy"(4) it could mean a number of things. S

Some common words found in the essay are:
Black Walnuts, Papa's Waltz, Father Poems, father poems, returns home, waltzed bed /, near poem, father/son relationships father, / clinging shirt15-16, bed / clinging, son father, bed /, waltzed bed, clinging shirt15-16, feelings towards, positive feeling, / clinging,
Approximate Word count = 1336
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)