Understanding Love
Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" and Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" are poems that describe a relationship between a father and son. The speakers in both works are looking back on their childhoods, primarily their relationships with their fathers. The fathers in these poems had unique ways of expressing love thus making the relationships with their sons atypical. One can see the difference in the poems through the tones the speakers used. Although "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" are both poems that reflect on fatherly love, they diverge in the speakers' attitudes towards their fathers. The speakers of both "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" are reflecting on their relationships with their fathers. Both fathers loved their children, but they expressed it differently. In "My Papa's Waltz", the speaker says that his fathers hand was "caked hard by dirt"(Roethke 14), which portrays his father as a hard worker. His father showed his family that he loved them by working hard to provide for them and by playing with his child. This whole poem illustrates a fun playtime for a father and son. Even though the father had enough whiskey on his breath to "make a small boy dizzy"(Roethke 2), h
This is revealed in the last line of the poem where the speaker tells of "love's austere and lonely offices" (Hayden 14). Another element of tone that reflects this cold atmosphere is that the speaker says his father had "driven out the cold" (Hayden 11). From the tone of the poem, one sees that the household was not inviting for a child and therefore made it more difficult for him to comprehend the extent of his father's love. This environment also made him more prone to the loneliness and the unwillingness to forgive that he has experienced. This further portrays that the speaker looks back on the time he had with his father fondly and desires to have it once more. People may not always express feelings the same way, but their feelings are valid none the less. Although the father in "Those Winter Sundays" was not affectionate, he showed his love to his son by going beyond his duties and polishing his son's good shoes. The speaker of "My Papa's Waltz" grew up in a playful, loving home. If the child had felt more loved, he might have expressed this action as "bringing in the warmth". The speaker has not had enough time to truly accept the way life was and the way his father expressed affection. In contrast, the speaker of "Those Winter Sundays" has more recently come to an understanding of the way his father expressed love, and he has not yet reached the point where he can forgive his father. The boy learned to look past his father's faults and accept the affection he gave. Both speakers understand that even though people may look down upon a drunken father or one who is not affectionate, their fathers loved them. This playful environment made it easier for the child to see that his father truly loved him.
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