Zainah Gadoui 711 Essay
Have you ever thought someone in your family doesn’t do much
for you? Ever thought that they don’t love you like you love them? Turns out, they
probably do, but have a different way of showing it. Or maybe you’re not
looking close enough. “Those Winter
Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke convey
different attitudes from the speakers to their fathers.
“Those Winter Sundays” and “My Papa’s Waltz” both show the
attitude of love towards theirs fathers at the end of the poem. This is shown
in “Those Winter Sundays” with the quote, “What did I know, what did I know/ of
love’s austere and lonely offices?” This shows that not everyone can see love
even though (in these cases) its there. The speaker feels regretful that they
didn’t appreciate their father’s love when it was there. The second poem, “My
Papa’s Waltz”, shows love with the lines “Then waltzed me off to bed/ still
clinging to your shirt.” I think that “My Papa’s Waltz” was about child abuse.
This shows that the speaker still loves their father even though he was hurting
them.
In “Those Winter Sundays”, the speaker was indifferent to
their father up until the ending. This demonstrates that idea “Speaking
indifferently to him/ who had driven out the cold/ and polished my good shoes
as well.” This shows that the speaker didn’t realize how much their father did
for them. He woke up early, warmed up the house, and polished their good shoes,
and the speaker didn’t even realize. In “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker expressed
love to their father the entire time. This shows that idea “Could make a small
boy dizzy/ But I hung on like death/ such waltzing was not easy.” This reveals
that the speaker loved his father the entire time, even though it wasn’t easy
to love him after what he did.
Both poems express different things about the speakers’
fathers. One was indifferent to their father until the end, when they realized
how much love he expressed. The other poem showed that the speaker loved their
father even though it wasn’t easy because he was beating them. Overall, love is
important, as is appreciation for what others do for you.
