DeSmit, Baylee Roethke and Salinas

     My Papa’s Waltz’ by Theodore Roethke is a surprisingly dark poem. It depicts an abusive father who “waltzes” his son to bed. Roethke makes the darkness of the poem something light, as he describes it as a dance. That is strange, just like the relationship between this father and son. In the beginning lines, it is about the sights, sounds, and feelings that the dance evoked. The second stanza describes more about the metaphorical dance between them. When the mother was introduced it was very strange. She is used to this chaotic relationship, but as everyone should she doesn’t approve of it. The next stanza shows the reader that this dance is truly about something else. Words like “battered” and “scraped a buckle” show us that something violent is going on and that the father beats his son. The final stanza shows an ending like the poem was going through the cycle of the day. The poem ended with the child being sent to bed just like a kid going to bed at the end of the day. He is still “clinging to” his father’s shirt, that unwillingness to let go shows the fight that this kid has to keep a relationship with his father. 

My Father is a Simple Man by Luis Omar Salinas is another poem about the relationship between father and son. But it is told through a healthy relationship, or at least healthier than the last poem. They talk about life and greatness. This boy looks up to his father just like in the last poem. He asks him for advice and his father is a man who was a worker and provider. He is not scared of death or things he does not know. He lives his life with what he has learned. He is a great role model for the son and portrays someone who makes the most out of what he is given.


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