Unit 7
My Papa’s Waltz
by Theodore Roethke
In textbook on page 613
Listen to the poem @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8uO
5nPgY4
I Ask My Mother to Sing
by Li-young Lee
Listen to the poem @
http://www.illinois.gov/poetlaureate/Docu
ments/Lee_Sing.mp3
Grape Sherbet
by Rita Dove
In textbook on page: 613
Listen to the Poem @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyT3
ouLpWE
Essential Question: What is your most vivid memory? How can you best share it with
others?
Common Core Standards: RL.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL. 4
Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
Introduction: What are some of your most vivid memories? Perhaps they include a holiday spent with your favorite relatives or your
first camping trip with friends. Memories can take an important shape in your mind. Sometimes they are great stories to tell for years
to come, but others might remain only as a sequence of images. The three poems you will read in this lesson consist of such images,
boiled down to their quintessential qualities.
Make the Connection: Choose a memory that is very vivid in your memory and write a short recollection. Include sensory details as
well as events that present a clear image of your subject.
Poetic Form: Lyric Poetry
These three poems are all examples of lyric poetry, brief poems in which the speakers communicate and share personal thoughts and
feelings. In ancient Greek, the word lyric referred to a type of poetry that expressed the feelings of a single singer, joined by a lyre, a
small harplike instrument. Today lyric poems are no longer performed, but lyric poems have a great deal in common with songs,
including:
 Imaginative word choice, or diction
 A sense of rhythm and melody
 The creation of a single, unified impression
Be sure to read the poems aloud to yourself to experience the sounds of the language.
Text Analysis: Imagery
Imagery is one of the most critical elements of a poem. Imagery is the words and phrases that appeal to one or more of the five
senses. Imagery is a powerful way to recreate sensory experiences and conjures particular emotions and ideas in people. In the lines
below from “My Papa’s Waltz,” the imagery appeal to sight and hearing but also evokes certain feelings:
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf
These lines conjure a sense of rowdy and raucous playtime.
Skills for Reading: Making Inferences
Lyric poems to be very condensed. It’s not uncommon for them there to be more suggested than explicitly stated. When reading lyrical
poems it is critical to make inferences about their meanings. Think about the ideas and emotions suggested by the poet’s word choices
and the poem’s images. As you read each poem, keep track of the images and your inferences by creating a graphic organizer like the
one below.
“Grape Sherbet”
Image
My Associations
Inferences
“[Memorial Day] mornings we
- Memorial Day celebrates the dead who -The characters must be running through a
galloped/through the grassed-over mounds/
cemetery
have given their lives
and named each stone / for a lost milk tooth.”
- Grassy mounds and stone are found
in cemeteries
About the Authors
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/theodoreroethke
Li-Young Lee (Born 1957)
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/li-younglee
Rita Dove (Born 1952)
http://people.virginia.edu/~rfd4b/
Roethke, a self-taught poet, learned the craft
of poetry by studying other poets. He kept a
notebook where he kept his thoughts, feelings,
and observations and often sought inspiration
there. He earned a Pulitzer Prize and two
National Book Awards. He advised his readers
to “listen” to his poems because “they are
written to be heard.
Lee is the son of a couple exiled by the Chinese
government. After his parents fled China to
avoid political persecution, he and his family
lived in many different Asian countries before
landing in America in 1964. It wasn’t until after
college that Lee began to write about his
experiences. His poetry is about love, family,
and every day experiences.
Dove has been a writer since she was in grade
school when she composed a science-fiction
novel based on the words she was required to
learn for a school spelling bee. Her poetry
collections have many awards, including the
Pulitzer Prize in 1987. From 1993 -1995, she
served as the U.S. poet laureate. She credits
her imagination for her success.
Poem #1: My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke
Listen to the poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs8uO5nPgY4
Close Read
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
Analyze Visuals – What are your
But I hung on like death: impressions of the characters in the
Such waltzing was not easy. paintings? Cite the details that create that
impression.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf; Countenance - facial expression
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
Analyze Lyric Poems – How does the
speaker feel about the bedtime waltz with
The hand that held my wrist his father? Cite details from the poem to
Was battered on one knuckle; explain your thoughts and opinions.
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
Tender Moments (2000) Franks Deceus
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt
Poem #2: I Ask My Mother to Sing by Li-Young Lee
Listen to the poem @ http://www.illinois.gov/poetlaureate/Documents/Lee_Sing.mp3
Close Read
She begins, and my grandmother joins her.
Mother and daughter sing like young girls.
If my father were alive, he would play
his accordion and sway like a boat.
Imagery: Reread the highlighted lines. How
is the speaker able to describe images of a
place he’s never seen? Describe the emotions
evoked by the images.
I’ve never been in Peking, or the Summer Palace,
nor stood on the great Stone Boat to watch
the rain begin on Kuen Ming Lake, the picnickers
running away in the grass.
But I love to hear it sung;
how the waterlilies fill with rain until
they overturn, spilling water into water,
then rock back, and fill with more.
Mother and Child by Grand Canal (2000) by Hung Liu.
Both women have begun to cry.
But neither stops her song.
Make Inferences: Why do the speaker’s
mother and grandmother start to cry during
their song?
Poem #3: Grape Sherbet
Listen to the Poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNyT3ouLpWE / Poet Rita Dove recites two poems, Singsong and Fox Trot Fridays @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnWd72uFK9A Watch an interview with poet Rita Dove @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwdMXj2p1TQ
The Day? Memorial.
Close Read
After the grill
Dad appears with his masterpiece –
swirled snow, gelled light.
We cheer. The recipe’s
a secret and he fights
a smile, his cap turned up
so the bib resembles a duck.
That morning we galloped
through the grassed-over mounds
and named each stone
for a lost milktooth. Each dollop
of sherbet, later,
is a miracle,
like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter.
Everyone agrees – it’s wonderful!
It’s just how we imagined lavender
would taste. The diabetic grandmother
stares from the porch,
a torch
Reread the highlighted portion of the poem.
What does the image of the grandmother
indicate about her grandmother?
of pure refusal.
We thought no one was lying
there under our feet,
Ice Cream Dessert (1959) by Andy Warhol
we thought it
was a joke. I’ve been trying
to remember the taste,
but it doesn’t exist.
Now I see why
you bothered,
father.
Lyric Poetry: What emotion is the speaker
communicating in this poem?
After Reading Questions
Common Core Standards: RL.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL. 4
Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Recall: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” why is the speaker’s mother frowning?
Clarify: In “I Ask My Mother to Sing,” what is the mother’s song about?
Summarize: Describe the setting of “Grape Sherbet” as you imagine it.
Make Inferences: Review the chart/graphic organizers you created while reading the three poems. What essential inferences assisted you
understand the poems? What hints did you use to formulate these inferences?
5. Compare and Contrast: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” and “Grape Sherbet,” the speakers recall childhood memories. How are their experiences
with their fathers similar? How do they differ? Cite evidence from each poem to validate your answers.
6. Interpret Imagery: Reread the lines below from the poem “I Ask My Mother to Sing.” What idea is alluded to by the image of the water
lilies filling with water, spilling it into the lake, and filling up again. Think about the event explained in the first stanza.
But I love to hear it sung;
how the waterlilies fill with rain until
they overturn, spilling water into water,
then rock back, and fill with more.
7. Analyze Lyric Poetry: Review the definition of a lyric poem from your notes. Then find the characteristics of a lyric poem in “I Ask My
Mother to Sing.”
8. Come to Conclusions: In “My Papa’s Waltz,” how do you judge the father’s behavior toward the speaker? Consider the diction used in
the descriptions as you cite evidence to support your answer.
9. Text Criticism: In writing about “My Papa’s Waltz,” one critic commented that Roethke discloses “something of his own joy, bafflements,
as the victim of his father’s exuberant energy.” Do you consider victim too harsh an explanation to describe the boy’s part in the evening
waltz? Explain your answer.
10. Enduring Understanding: Reread the essential questions. Do you think your favorite memory could be best shared in a poem? After
reading these poems, do you think poetry is an effective way to share memories with others? Why or why not?