Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Short Analysis of "My Papa's Waltz"

It didn't take me very long to realize this poem was about child abuse. What disturbs me the most about this poem is how at the end of the beating, the narrator still clings to his father's shirt. The speaker clings to his father's shirt throughout the entire piece, pointing towards the fact that this boy still loves his abusive father. Through these beatings the narrator grows, "You beat time on my head" (line 13). His youthful imagination replaces the pain with an easier image--a waltz: "But I hung on like death:/Such waltzing was not easy". The simple ABAB rhyme scheme ("breath/death" and "dizzy/easy") is that of a child's nursery rhyme, further disguising the grittiness of the event and hints at the speaker's delusion.

5 comments:

  1. Yeah I also got really sad thinking about how he still clings to the shirt, most likely just praying for it to be over.

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  2. I found your analysis interesting because I took the clinging to your shirt and hung on like death lines a little differently. I kind of took them not as literally and more like he was hanging on to his last bit of life and clutching to stay up. both seem reasonable to me

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  3. I think your analysis is interesting and thoroughly consistent. You highlighted something I was only vaguely aware of - the likeness to a child's nursery rhyme. But perhaps it isn't simply meant to "disguise" the situation's ugliness, at least, not from the reader. Biology commands us to love our parents unconditionally at a very early age, especially since a child has no inherent frame of reference for an ideal father. Perhaps in a sick way, this is a waltz for the child - he or she is unable to distinguish it as anything else.

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  4. Your analysis was fascinating. Though I picked up on the child abuse behind the poem, I didn't analyze it as thorougly as you did. I hadn't thought of the nursery rhyme aspect before, and it certainly adds to the poem. It perpetrates even further this child's innocence in his world of horror.

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  5. I think it's interesting that you feel the author grabbing his father's shirt as a mark of subconcious affection. I also hadn't originally noticed the nursery rhyme comparison you made in your analysis, but upon reading your opinion, i returned to the text and was able to understand where you're coming from with your opinion.

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