Understanding Love
Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" and Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" are poems that describe a relationship between a father and son. The speakers in both works are looking back on their childhoods, primarily their relationships with their fathers. The fathers in these poems had unique ways of expressing love thus making the relationships with their sons atypical. One can see the difference in the poems through the tones the speakers used. Although "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" are both poems that reflect on fatherly love, they diverge in the speakers' attitudes towards their fathers. The speakers of both "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" are reflecting on their relationships with their fathers. Both fathers loved their children, but they expressed it differently. In "My Papa's Waltz", the speaker says that his fathers hand was "caked hard by dirt"(Roethke 14), which portrays his father as a hard worker. His father showed his family that he loved them by working hard to provide for them and by playing with his child. This whole poem illustrates a fun playtime for a father and son. Even though the father had enough whiskey on his breath to "make a small boy dizzy"(Roethke 2), h
In contrast, the speaker of "Those Winter Sundays" has more recently come to an understanding of the way his father expressed love, and he has not yet reached the point where he can forgive his father. The atmosphere in which this boy grew up was a strict, cold one. The tone the speaker uses reflects this sort of environment. He speaks of "fearing the chronic angers of that house" (Hayden 9). The way he talks about his own house being "that house" shows that he did not feel a part of the household; he felt lonely and afraid. Another element of tone that reflects this cold atmosphere is that the speaker says his father had "driven out the cold" (Hayden 11). If the child had felt more loved, he might have expressed this action as "bringing in the warmth". From the tone of the poem, one sees that the household was not inviting for a child and therefore made it more difficult for him to comprehend the extent of his father's love. This environment also made him more prone to the loneliness and the unwillingness to forgive that he has experienced. People can learn a great deal from studying "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays". By analyzing the tones used in the poems, one can compare the attitudes of the speakers and see that accepting your life the way it is and making the best of it can lead to a happier life. The speaker of "My Papa's Waltz" is much more cheerful and light-hearted than the speaker of "Those Winter Sunday's", who did not accept the form of love his father displayed. This portrays the valuable lesson of learning to accept other people and make allowances for their differences. People may not always express feelings the same way, but their feelings are valid none the less. Another important message one can take from "My Papa's Waltz" is to make every mom
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1219
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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