Analyzing “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

Hello 10th grade English!! This week we will be learning how to annotate and and analyze poetry. Today we will be starting with Theodore Roekthe’s My Papa’s Waltz. You will be provided with both a copy of the poem as well as a video of the poem being read. Take a look at the objectives for each exercise and try your best to follow those guidelines. You may discuss annotations with a partner, and after doing so you will answer a few discussion questions which we will share as a class.

Annotating Objectives:

Read the poem once through, then read it a second time annotating anything that stands out to you.

What to look for: figurative language, repetition, structure, speaker, tone, mood, etc.

Read the poem again after annotating and critically thinking.

Analysis Objectives:

The discussion questions on the next page will serve as your analysis exercise. Here are a few general questions/suggestions to get you thinking.

Think about how what you annotated/stood out to you contributes the the poem as a whole.

What is significant about what you have pointed out?

Try to make sense of your annotations and think about them as a cohesive role.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the relationship between the father and child like? Explain how you came to this conclusion.
2. Is the speaker telling this story as an event that occurred long ago or fairly recent? How old is the speaker at the time of the event and how old is the speaker when he’s telling the story?
3. What is the significance of including the mother in this poem?
4. What is the family dynamic?
5. Why do you think the father is drinking?

Activity:

We will share our answers to the discussion questions as a class. A large group discussion should help you get a better sense of how to critically read and analyze a poem.Everyone will share what strategies they used for annotations and how those annotations helped them come to the answers of the discussion questions. I will take notes during the large group discussion up on the board so that everyone may copy them down into their notebooks for future reference.