Memory Meets Maturity in \"My

Memory Meets Maturity in "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays"

Nostalgia emerges when reading "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke and "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden. These poems strive to find balances between positive and negative childhood experiences through adult interpretation. Each poem utilizes detailed imagery to capture specific moments from youth. These moments are not spectacular but the give the speakers of the poems something to which they can attach memories. The images are simple but they are clear; they allow us to see what the speakers want us to see. The tone of each poem reveals a sense of nostalgia as the adult sons reflect on these moments with their fathers. The meaning of memory gains importance here as we see it change from young boy to adult son. They teach us a father loves in many different ways. Not overly sentimental, these poems tell stories of the many faces of love.

"My Papa's Waltz," the speaker of the poem captures the positive and negative aspects of his father and expresses them in an honest and straightforward tone. The speaker remembers specific details regarding his father but they are exactly endearing. The poem begins with the stench of whisky that makes the speaker, just a young boy, dizzy. It alerts the boy to his father's condition and while they dance, he "hung on like death" (Roethke 3). Their dance is more like a romp, as pans slip from the kitchen shelves. This image allows us to see the sloppiness of their dancing. The speaker even remembers such a detail as his father's bloody knuckle and the pain of his ear scraping against his father's belt buckle. A captivating image follows this one as the speaker remembers his father keeping time on his head with a "palm caked hard by dirt" (14). The last line reveals the image of a child hanging onto his father as he puts him to bed. Similarly, in "Those Winter Sundays," the speaker of the poem remembers something from his childhood that involves positive and negative emotions. He gives us details from his life that give the poem an air of authenticity. The young boy in this poem remembers the angst of working on bitterly cold Sunday mornings. The speaker provides us with the image of a cold "splintering and breaking" (Hayden 6) the early morning hours. As he dressed, he felt the "chronic angers of that house" (9). These images help us visualize the dread of getting up in the cold. These images are not anything stunning except for the fact that they bring the sons closer to their fathers.

Both poems subtly address the nature of growing up by realizing how things look different to us as adults. In "My Papa's Waltz," we do not sense anger from the speaker of the poem, even though he had a right to be angry at his father's drunkenness. The poem instead reads like an homage to his father not because his father was the best of men but because this is one of the memories the boy recalls. The speaker admits, "such waltzing was not easy" (Roethke 4) and while his mother watched on frowning, the boy was sharing a moment in time with his father that would remain with him for the rest of his life. It is an odd closeness he experiences with his father. In "Those Winter Sundays," we find a more definite appreciation for the father in the poem. The adult can look back and see how his father and know he was not punishing him but merely looking out for the family. The speaker asks, "What did I know, what did I know" (Hayden 14) realizing his ingratitude is worse than what his father made him do. Interestingly, it is what happened on those cold mornings that made the speaker feel a warmth and affection toward his father. Through personal experience, each poem focuses on life, responsibilities and affection.

These poems demonstrate how memories do not need to be good to be significant or meaningful. Both speakers are remembering moments of anxiety shared with their fathers and it is because they shared them with their fathers that make the memories worth remembering and sharing. In their own way, these poems illustrate the very essence of life because they accept the good along with the bad. As young boys, each speaker had difficulty with this concept, as children often will. Both boys might have felt neglected by their fathers but, in their own ways, each father was giving his son the best of his attention. They are poignant without being too sensitive. They explore how love is expressed in a variety of ways. While many may not perceive "My Papa's Waltz" to be a sentimental poem, it does define affection. The boy's father was expressing affection and the adult son remembers moments like these fondly. The fact that the speaker calls the poem his "papa's" waltz indicates his sentimentality. While the experience might not have been great for him, it becomes significant over time. His father, his repeated waltzes, his mother's frown are all vibrant memories that reveal the story of a young boy whose father liked to drink too much. In "Those Winter Sundays," we see the same type of remembrance. Angst turned to appreciation as the boy becomes an adult. He realizes his bemoaning on Sundays mornings caused him to miss out on the fact that his father's labor of love went unappreciated. The meaning of these poems lies not so much in their subject matter but the emotion they elicit. These poems illustrate how subtle gestures can express affection.