My Papa’s Waltz
Analytical Paragraph
My Papa’s Waltz
--Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
The assignment
Write a paragraph in which you discuss what
you think the poem means. Discuss
imagery and figurative language to support
your point.
Paragraphs
1.
Topic Sentence
a. identify poem
b. identify what the poem is about
The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is about a
father and a son playing together as the
father takes the son up to bed.
Paragraphs
2.
Supporting Details
a. Specific details from poem
b. Imagery and figurative language
The rough way that the father brings the son up
to bed after he returns from work is compared
to a “waltz” in a metaphor in the poem.
Paragraphs
3. Explanation of your details.
a. How do your details support your
topic sentence?
By using this metaphor of the waltz to describe the
way the father takes the son up to bed, the poet
makes the point that this is not an abusive
situation but a beautiful and playful moment
between a father and his son.
YOUR TASK
1.
Look at the paragraph I handed out to
you. Mark the following things:
1.
2.
3.
4.
2.
Topic sentence—underline
Supporting details—squiggly underline
Explanation of details—circle
Lit Technique—box
Do the same thing to your own
paragraph.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is about
a father and son playing together as the father takes the son
up to bed when he returns from work. The poem begins with
the imagery of whiskey on the father’s breath that makes “the
small boy dizzy.” This makes the father seem much larger
than the son. As the two play together the son hangs on “like
death.” The simile shows how the son loves the time he
spends with his father. The rough way that the father brings
the son up to bed after he returns from work is called a
“waltz” in the poem. By using the metaphor of the waltz to
describe the way the father takes the son up to bed, the poet
makes the point that this is not an abusive situation but a
beautiful and playful moment between a father and his son.
The imagery and the figurative language of the poem show
how it is about a father and son playing together.
FOR THE REST OF THE PERIOD
1.
2.
3.
4.
Read the poem “Richard Cory” (p607)
Write a paragraph in which you explain what
point you think the poem makes about
MONEY.
Be sure to discuss IMAGERY and
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE to support your
point.
I will collect completed paragraphs tomorrow.
HOMEWORK
1. Literary technique handout due Friday.
2. “Richard Cory” paragraph due Thursday.
3. Vocabulary #15 quiz Thursday.