Cithead
Fathers and Sons Some poems show similarities in relationships between people. Some show relationships between an individual and their family, friends, or, most popularly, one’s lover. In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” and Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” great descriptions of father and son relationships are portrayed. In the poems, the sons express their feeling about their fathers now that they have grown into adulthood. The son in “My Papa’s Waltz” tells the story of a time when he had a chance to dance or “waltz” with his father. To any reader, the great desire and longing for the attention of a father to his son can be seen. The boy didn’t care about “The whiskey on your breath” because he was going to stay in there with him as long as he could (Roethke 932). The time meant so much to the boy that he “…hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” (932). One can tell that the boy is exuberant in his actions to achieve his father’s attention by the way they “romped” around the kitchen floor, supposedly “until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf” (932). The father was a poor, working man with dirty hands and whiskey on his breath. From this, a reader can probably tell that the father has his mind elsewhere as the son says, “You beat time on my head” (933). This line shows that the alcohol fogs the man’s mind and he doesn’t realize the impact he is having on his young boys life at this moment.