A Bittersweet Memory

             Theodore Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1908. His childhood experiences were strongly influenced by his father who sold flowers and plants as an occupation. As a young man, Roethke went to study at the University of Michigan. He also took some courses at Harvard University and later taught at several universities before becoming a professional poet and writer. As a writer, some of his books received numerous critical acclaims including the Pulitzer Prize for The Waking [1953] and the National Book Award for Words for the Wind [1958]. One of his notable poems, "My Papa's Waltz" was collected from one of his books, The Lost Son and Other Poems [1949] illustrates a bittersweet memory of a dysfunctional relationship between a drunken father and his young son. Through the narration, the speaker is the innocent son, reminiscing of his experience with his father's drunkenness in which it has shaped him to look back with vivid descriptions of the bittersweet memory. In this case, Roethke's language allows the audience to interpret the speaker's situation with his father as a declaration of fondness as well as bitterness. By portraying the interaction between the drunken father and his young son as a waltz, the poem depicts the unconsciousness of the father in which his actions of drunkenness create an illusion of fear and violence at the first impression in his son's eyes that cannot fade away in his mind, leaving him in a chasm of pain, both emotionally and physically.
             The speaker of the poem makes it evident in the first two lines of the first stanza, "The whiskey on your breath/Could make a small boy dizzy;" By introducing his father's breath caused by alcohol, it gives the audience a negative impression toward his reluctant father-a misconception of believing anything the speaker states. The first two lines significantly reveal the situation of the poem where the father&ap...

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A Bittersweet Memory. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 21:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/22199.html