WORD CHOICE, TONE, AND POINT OF VIEW IN Roethke¡¯s ¡°My Papa¡¯s Waltz¡±

In Theodore Roethke¡¯s ¡° My Papa¡¯s Waltz¡±, there are many words which may create the dark side of the story. Through them, many readers think that the poem is the son¡¯s indignant recollection at his rough father. Those words, I believe, portrayed a remarkable childhood as well as the love of the son for his father. Let¡¯s examining the tone, the point of view and the choice of words that Roethke uses to convey the tone of his scene, we will see ¡°My Papa¡¯s Waltz¡± is a reminiscence of a happy childhood scene.
Even at the beginning of the poem, the title makes us a little confused. On one side, the word ¡°papa¡± is dated informal. It shows that the son has an affection for his father. On the other side, the title is ¡°My Papa¡¯s Waltz¡±, not ¡°Our Waltz¡± or ¡°Waltzing with my father¡± or even ¡°The Waltz¡±. In common sense, waltz is the dance involving two persons but this waltz is the exclusive waltz of his father. The poet implies that it...