For my english class I have to write an essay over
"My Papa Waltz" && "Those Winter Sundays" comparing and contrasting the two poems and the feelings the son has toward their fathers. I have to support my points and develop my essay with quotes from the two points;
I read both the poems, and I thought the Papa Waltz one was about a father who was an alcholic who abused his son with his belt; but I read some other peoples opinions, and they said it wasn't.
While I have no intention of doing your homework for you, I would like to help you better understand the poem My Papa Waltz.
I mean no offense in asking this, and I only ask because the only way I can get what you got out of it is if I didn't know this one thing:
Are you aware that a waltz is a dance style?
If not, read it again with that in mind, and all should be cleared right up.
If so, I am curious how you got the whole abuse angle out of this. Would you mind sharing that in feedback?
My interpretation of the poem is as a very fond memory from childhood.
Dad comes home from drinking with the boys. Still reeling from the music heard while out, he bursts through the door... and as his son comes to greet him, he snatches him up and dances about the house so raucously that the dishes fall off the shelves.
Papa is a bit wobbly and isn't doing well with the 1-2-3-4 of the waltz, and so when he steps wrong, the boys head (at the same height as his father's buckle) is caught on said buckle.
Mother disapproves of the scene, and so the father waltzes his son off to the other room to put him to bed, still clinging to his father's shirt.
I hope that helps you to better understand your assignment, which should make it easier to compare it with the other poem.
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