My Papa

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My Papas Waltz

• Analytical Paragraph

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• My Papas Waltz
• --Theodore Roethke
• The whiskey on your breath Could make a small
  boy dizzy But I hung on like death Such
  waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans
  Slid from the kitchen shelf My mothers
  countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand
  that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle
  At every step you missed My right ear scraped a
  buckle. You beat time on my head
• With a palm caked hard by dirt
• Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to
  your shirt.

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The assignment

• Write a paragraph in which you discuss what you
  think the poem means. Discuss imagery and
  figurative language to support your point.

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Paragraphs

• Topic Sentence
• a. identify poem
• b. identify what the poem is about
• The poem My Papas Waltz is about a father and
  a son playing together as the father takes the
  son up to bed.

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Paragraphs

• Supporting Details
• Specific details from poem
• Imagery and figurative language
• The rough way that the father brings the son up
  to bed after he returns from work is compared to
  a waltz in a metaphor in the poem.

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Paragraphs

• 3. Explanation of your details.
• a. How do your details support your topic
  sentence?
• By using this metaphor of the waltz to describe
  the way the father takes the son up to bed, the
  poet makes the point that this is not an abusive
  situation but a beautiful and playful moment
  between a father and his son.

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YOUR TASK

1. Look at the paragraph I handed out to you. Mark
   the following things
2. Topic sentenceunderline
3. Supporting detailssquiggly underline
4. Explanation of detailscircle
5. Lit Techniquebox
6. Do the same thing to your own paragraph.

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER The poem My Papas
Waltz by Theodore Roethke is about a father and
son playing together as the father takes the son
up to bed when he returns from work. The poem
begins with the imagery of whiskey on the
fathers breath that makes the small boy dizzy.
This makes the father seem much larger than the
son. As the two play together the son hangs on
like death. The simile shows how the son loves
the time he spends with his father. The rough
way that the father brings the son up to bed
after he returns from work is called a waltz in
the poem. By using the metaphor of the waltz to
describe the way the father takes the son up to
bed, the poet makes the point that this is not an
abusive situation but a beautiful and playful
moment between a father and his son. The imagery
and the figurative language of the poem show how
it is about a father and son playing together.
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FOR THE REST OF THE PERIOD

1. Read the poem Richard Cory (p607)
2. Write a paragraph in which you explain what point
   you think the poem makes about MONEY.
3. Be sure to discuss IMAGERY and FIGURATIVE
   LANGUAGE to support your point.
4. I will collect completed paragraphs tomorrow.

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HOMEWORK

• 1. Literary technique handout due Friday.
• 2. Richard Cory paragraph due Thursday.
• 3. Vocabulary 15 quiz Thursday.