Natalie Van Alstyne 711 3-2-15

Poem Essay

Many relationships between a father and child are shown in many different and similar ways.  In both poems, “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke are both similar and different. These Poems both show you a child/father relationship, but each relationships  themselves are different.

Both poems are similar because they both show relationships between a father and his child. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz”,  in the last stanza the father shows kindness, the poem states, “Then Waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.” This is an act of kindness from the child’s father because, after they play rough with each other the father shows affection and kindness by holding the child and bringing the child into bed. In the poem, “Those Winter Sundays” the father shows acts of care, “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands the ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze.” This shows that the father cared so much about his family because he gets up every day including Sundays, and has achy hands from the work he does during the week. Both poems are similar because each father loves their family, and cares for them.

Both poems are different because each father and child’s connection

is different. In “Those Winter Sundays” the author doesn’t treat his father the way his father deserves to be treated but, when the author looks back when he writes this poem he had wished he treated him better. In the last stanza of “Those Winter Sundays”  the author writes, “Speaking indifferently to him, who was driven out in the cold and polished my good shoes as well.” This means his father used to shine his/her shoes and he or she  didn’t speak with care or concern, not saying “Thank you” like he might’ve meant it. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” it seems that the father and childs/narrator's relationship was very healthy and happy. In the second stanza it states, “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelves…” This shows that their relationship is very happy because they were having so much fun goofing off in the kitchen. These poems are different because each child and father have a different relationship with each other.

Overall,“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by 
Theodore Reothke are both similar and different. Both fathers show they love their children and but show love in different ways. No matter if any good relationship is bad sometimes, or the otherway around, both parents love and care deeply for their children.