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The Mood Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

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In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, many readers will have many different interpretations of the poem. The most stereotypical are between child abuse on the author from the father and recalling a memory with his father dancing. The context of word choice Theodore Roethke used for this poem are simple but complex enough to cause different views towards the poem while also creating imagery of what can, again be, many radically different views. In a literally analysis form, Roethke uses even the smallest amount of detail such as the title and even the number of stressed words per line to emphasize the memory with his father. In “My Papa’s Waltz”, Theodore Roethke uses word choice, imagery, and certain literary forms through his work of literature to show that every good or bad memory with the family will always stay and never fade away in any way, shape, or form. One of the main things that Roethke uses in his poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is word choice. His diction throughout the poem is simple but still strong enough to cause arguments of today’s mindset in readers because the words used in the poem can …show more content…
Since this poem was published in 1948, after the Great Depression, his father probably just started working again and was trying to help put food on the table. The houses for a decent middle age family could possibly not have any sort of air conditioning or heat so the possibility that this memory was taken place during a cold wave is strongly possible. Not knowing what the father did for a living is not clearly stated, but there is enough detail that could say that Roethke’s father did hard labor to provide for the family with the “battered knuckle” and “a palm caked hard as dirt”. All in all, even though the diction Roethke used causes many heads to turn differently, he still is able to form this memory with his father last till the end of literature based on his simple yet changing

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