Analysis Of My Papas Waltz By Robert Frost - 777 Words

Unlike reading a novella or a novel, reading poetry is much different. As Robert Frost stated when asked the question of what poetry is, he responses, â€Å"Poetry is the kind of things poets write (Kennedy Gioia, 2016).† Frost intended for the questioner to think about the words he said, try to understand the simple statement he said. When reading poetry, one must understand the writing and involve themselves in the reading. In the poem My Papa’s Waltz, by Theodore Roethke, is a prime example of reading and understanding the poem. By putting yourself in the story and imagining yourself being the boy drug around by a drunken Papa, you involve yourself so much that you develop feelings and sadness for the boy. Tone, speaker, and†¦show more content†¦Diction may be used to express the style in which the writing is presented (Kennedy Gioia, 2016). Diction can play a large role in how the reader perceives the characters of the story. My Papa’s Wa ltz uses an excellent choice of words. The words are that of simple terms and not unknown literary terms that some readers may not know what it means. â€Å"The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy† (Kennedy Gioia, 2016), this is a general statement stating a small child could inhale the smell of whiskey and almost get drunk themselves. His mother is unable to not unfrown, feelings of sadness due to his mother having to endure this scenario as well. While the Papa held his wrist, every stumbled step lead to his right ear scraping a buckle of some sort. This poem clearly defines the characters of the story, along with the roles they play. Papa was a drunk, the mother was unhappy, and the boy had no choice, but to follow Papa’s hand wherever that may lead to. The speaker is simply the voice behind the poem. As the reader reads the poem, they can imagine the speakers reading it out loud to them (Shmoop, 2017). The speaker and tone relate to eac h other in the sense that you can have one without the other. How the speaker presents their work depends of the tone and the feelings of the author. As the speaker of â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz† reads the story, it sounds as if the boy is frightened. If I was to pass my book to someone and read this poem in theirShow MoreRelatedLiterary Devices and Their Use in Poetry1875 Words   |  8 Pagesaccentuation in her poem, namely displacement, deletion, selective deviation, repetition and typography. Displacement refers to a device whereby a poet takes conventional grammar and rearranges it. For example, in the poem Mending Wall, by Robert Frost the first line reads â€Å"Something there is that does not love a wall.† (Moffet, Mphahlele 2006: 103) Had the poet used conventional language the sentence would read ‘there is something that does not love a wall.† As can be seen from the given exampleRead MoreBusiness and Management2600 Words   |  11 P ages | | | | | | | | |Reading Literature Closely: Analysis (pp. 120-182) | | | | |Arguing an Interpretation (pp 183-236) | |