Poetry Selections: Roethke (blog by Monday)

My interpretation of "My Papa's Waltz". To me it seems like something less like a dance, and more like child abuse.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AndrewAdams/2009/03/ambiguous_waltz_1.html

I think this waltz is far from enjoyable...

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JulianneBanda/2009/03/far_from_an_enjoyable_dance.html

Dancing to a Different Tune
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AprilMinerd/2009/03/dancing_to_a_different_tune.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AjaHannah/2009/03/bats_drinks_and_horses_oh_my.html

The dancing makes the "small boy dizzy," but he hangs "on like death:" The kitchen pans are described as sliding from the shelves; this is not something that would happen if this waltz were truly a waltz.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AlyssaSanow/2009/03/beating_musical_or_physical.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CarlosPeredo/2009/03/not_what_youd_expect.html

"What's madness but nobility of soul/At odds with circumstance?"

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MatthewHenderson/2009/03/whats_madness_but_nobility_of.html

"In a dark time, the eye begins to see"
~line 1 of Theodore Roethke's "In a Dark Time"

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JenniferPrex/2009/03/the_blind_shall_see.html

Beating Time

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RebeccaMarrie/2009/03/beating_time.html

Roethke's poem My Papa's Waltz was the one that caught my eye most easily because by his saying waltzing, I got 'child abuse' out of it.
This threw a red flag at me, because I am going to be teaching K-3rd grade and though people like to be blind to the subject, it does happen.

"The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle."
- Theodore Roethke My Papa's Waltz
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RosalindBlair/2009/03/the_sweetest_waltz.html

"The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle" (Roethke 13).
...
"Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt."

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChelsieBitner/2009/03/waltz.html

"When true love broke my heart in half,
I took the whiskey from the shelf,
And told my neighbors when to laugh.
I keep a dog, and bark myself.

Ghost cried out to ghost-
But who's afraid of that?
I fear those shadows most
That start from my own feet."
-The Surly One

"What's madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance?"

-Theodore Roethke, page 4

Madness...a truly awkward thing to ponder.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChristopherDufalla/2009/03/madness.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NikitaMcClellan/2009/03/will_the_real_roethke_please_s.html

"Which I is I?"

"The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle;/At every step you missed/My right ear scraped a buckle."
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AliciaCampbell/2009/03/no_dance_i_want_to_try.html

Keep buzzing at the sill.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/QuinnKerno/2009/03/roethke_in_a_da.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JoshuaWilks/2009/03/dancing_with_the_stars.html

Is my papa's waltz really about what you think it is?

"My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself."
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AshleyPascoe/2009/03/_mom_and_dads_lives_could_be_i.html

In reading Roethke's poems for the selection of poems for this week I found it very interesting that so many of these poets were all manic depressants, alcoholics and other conditions. So it was surprising that they said Roethke was "among the happy poets" when he had a manic condition such as schizophrenia that worsened as he grew older.