"My Papa's Waltz"

Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is one of my favorite poems that we have read so far. The part that I liked the most was the part “We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf;” (Lines 5-6) I think that was the part I liked the most because the father likes to spend time with his child, which is the way it seemed in the poem. The end was also good. “Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt.” (15-16) Makes me think of spending a perfect evening waltzing, then being tucked into bed by my father. The part that stuck out most to me was the beginning “The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy;/ But I hung on like death:/ Such waltzing was not easy.” (1-4) The father may have had just one drink of whiskey or had a lot, but he still spent time with his child so that shows that he really does care for his child.

Do not go gentle into that good night

This poem talks about his father dying and tells of others who die like the wild men, good men, wise men and grave men it tells them that all men die and the they do not want them to die as said when they say do not go gentle into that good night, seems as though they do not want him to go but to fight it and stated Rage rage against the dying of the light to say I am not going easy I will fight and the last he gives to the fact that his father is dying.

The Mending Wall

When reading this poem I could relate to the narrators opposition to having such things as separation fences or walls. This is a poem about neighbors who try to keep separation of their lands. The narrator tries to find the fun in mending this fence every spring, "Oh, just another kind of outdoor game"(21). The narrator wonders why they should need separation and why "Good fences make good neighbors"(27). "What I was walling in or walling out"(33), in other words if your such good neighbors why is a wall needed? The wall may signify tradition and it is just what people have been doing forever. Maybe the other land owner wants it known what is his without any question.
JenN

My Papa's Waltz

This poem is about a young boy who learns from his papa how to waltz. I think the whiskey on his breath plays an important role in this poem because the papa may have been drunk when he taught the boy and that was why he was so firm with his movements. The tone in this poem is very strong as I can see the pans falling from the shelf. I remember my first waltz lesson from my uncle at my grandpa's birthday party. It was a fast paced waltz and I can recall holding on for dear life also. The boy must have been young for his ear to be at the height of papa's belt buckle. The papa then waltz the boy to bed and I think the boy was happy to be there. Still feeling as if he was holding onto his papa's shirt. The memory of this little boy's first waltz is something he will carry with him for the rest of his life as mine!