‘My Papa's Waltz’ and ‘Those Winter Sundays’

Speakers

            In both poems, the speaker is an adult (youth) who is remembering his childhood and life experiences with his father. In both poems, the subject matter is the same (describing the relationship with the father), but the difference occurs in that the speakers express different attitudes.  In ‘My Papa's Waltz', the speaker has a negative attitude and says that his father was always drunk and abused him (Roethke, 1). In ‘Those Winter Sunday', the speaker uses a realization attitude. He remembers the self-sacrificial love from his father, and now he realizes the good deeds (Hayden, 1).During childhood, he was indifferent to his father, but now he realizes the fatherly love.

 

Audiences

In ‘My Papa's Waltz', the intended audience is his father. He is talking to his father and reminds him of how he mistreated them, but the boy still hung on to him (Roethke, 1).In ‘Those Winters Sunday', the intended audience is every child (Hayden, 1). He is addressing those children who are unappreciative and those who not recognize parental love for them.

 

Situations

 In both poems, the speaker and his family are in a family’s home, maybe in a kitchen.   However, the difference in a situation occurs in that the speaker in ‘My Papa's Waltz' is in conflict with his father whereas the speaker in ‘Those Winter Sundays' is in conflict with himself (Hayden, 1). In the former, the speaker expresses negative ideas, and this suggests that he is bitter toward his father (Roethke, 1).  In the latter, the speaker is regretting why he took the father's love for granted.

Tone

 In ‘My Papa's Waltz', the speaker, who is an adult, uses a poignant tone.  He is expressing the disappointments he experienced due to the egregious behavior of his father.    Inline 13, the speaker says that “you beat time on my head” (Roethke, 1).The speaker has a traumatic memory and remembers how his father punished him. The father was a threat to the life of the son and his mother. In ‘Those Winter Sundays,' the speaker uses a sadness and regret tone. In line 13, he says that ‘What did I know’ (Hayden, 1). He feels so unfortunate that he did not appreciate his father for the difficulties and sacrifices he made to serve him. He sacrificed himself, but he was apathetic and cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Work cited

 

 Roethke Theodore. My Papa’s Waltz. Poetry Foundation, 2019

 Retrieved from: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43330/my-papas-waltz

 

Hayden Robert. Those Winter Sundays. Poetry Foundation, 2019. Retrieved from:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46461/those-winter-sundays