…….””Root Cellar” is lyric poem that exults in the feisty plant roots that survive in a hostile environment and bring forth a new generation of their species.

A root cellar (American English) or earth cellar (British English) is a structure, usually underground or partially underground, used for storage of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods. Its name reflects the traditional focus on root crops stored in an underground cellar, which is still often true.

Varieties of images that “Root Cellar” contains are a celebration, a dance, and a city. The poem contains an image of a city because it states, “Nothing would sleep in that cellar,” (line 1) which associates with a city that is lively twenty four hours a day.

“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke.

1. EnglishLight+1. More info. This preview shows page 1 out of 1 page. Dank as a ditch is referring to how dark and creepy the root cellar is, it felt cold, alone and was wet, it was not a welcoming space to be, there were no light or sunlight underground in the root cellar so everything was by its self.

At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire!

Personal Background: Roethke had extremely ambivalent feelings about his father, who was managing partner in a large greenhouse operation in Saginaw, Michigan. He also had problems related to alcohol addiction and bipolar disorder, which resulted in periods of hospitalization.

Theodore Roethke graduated from the University of Michigan in 1929 and held various teaching positions across the country before publishing his first collection of poetry, Open House, in 1941. Suffering from bipolar disorder, he experienced a bout of mania in 1945 and underwent shock therapy treatment.

Child abuse is physical mistreatment that unfortunately happens to children everywhere around the world. In the same way, the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, describes and gives the readers an insight of what child abuse is like. The poem presents a relationship between a drunken father and his son.

But when he brushes up against a screen, We are afraid of what our eyes have seen: For something is amiss or out of place When mice with wings can wear a human face.

Poetry Precis 5-“The Bat” by Theodore Roethke Written by Theodore Roethke, “The Bat” is a poem which conveys a message about the real fear of humans through its metaphors and a storytelling tone. Throughout this poem, “the bat” acts as a metaphor which represents “the unknown”.

In “The Bat Poet” the author uses first person point of view. First person narrative is a point of view (who is telling a story) where the story is narrated by one character at a time.

Meaning: The meaning of the poem is that we shouldn’t be scared of creatures because they have human characteristics as said in the line “for something is amiss or out of place when mice with wings can wear a human face.”

Ans – When she rushed to the kitchen, the poet saw her mother perched on the kitchen sink, almost at the edge and squealing like a baby bat.

The theme of “The Bat” by Theodore Roethke is fear. Roethke spends the first part of the poem describing bats in simple and relatable terms….

“Bat” is a lyrical poem that traces the speaker’s change from delight at what he thinks are swallows flying in the twilight air at dusk in Florence to his disgust when he realizes that they are bats. Lawrence uses imagery and metaphor to highlight the contrast.

The biggest realization for the speaker is that he was abused as a child. This shows a mournful tone for his inner child for whom he feels sympathy for. As an adult, he holds a poignant tone that represents his disappointment for his father’s flagrant behavior.

The tone consists of love, and pain. It continues to shift. In stanza 1, we see a boy struggling to dance with his drunk father. In the last stanza, we see a more confusing setting that the father is “beating” his son on the head, but yet the child still clings to his shirt because he doesn’t want to go to bed.

But I hung on like death: This line indicates that the whiskey is indeed making our speaker quite dizzy, because he has to hang on like death, perhaps the one thing that hangs on to us all. Using the word “death” so early in the poem clues the reader in that this poem isn’t just a happy memory – it’s also haunted.

At every step you missed

“My Papa’s Waltz” has the metaphor of dancing throughout the poem, more correctly, waltzing between a father and son. Everything from the description of the fluidity of the dance to the speakers feeling towards the dance helps create a stronger meaning behind the metaphor.

The main themes in “My Papa’s Waltz” are parents and children and masculinity. Parents and children: The speaker both admires and fears his father, who is both a role model for the speaker and a source of danger. This apparent ambivalence reflects the oftentimes conflicted emotions of children towards their parents.

Irony: It is ironic that the boy refers to his father’s drunken stumbling as a “waltz” because this is a formal dance and the movements described in the poem are far from formal. Imagery: The boy recalls the smell of whiskey on his breath.

waltzed; waltzing; waltzes. Definition of waltz (Entry 2 of 2) intransitive verb. 1 : to dance a waltz. 2 : to move or advance in a lively or conspicuous manner : flounce.

What is the conflict at the center of the poem “My Papa’s Waltz”? One could argue that the central conflict of the poem is between the narrator and his drunken father.

reverence

“My Papa’s Waltz” deals with themes of family, relationships, confliction, fear, and love. Like other pieces written by Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” draws from the poet’s relationship with his father. “My Papa’s Waltz” is considered to be one of Roethke’s best works.

Answer Expert Verified. The poet seems to be full of love and pity for his father . He reveals his sadness about his father’s depression due to his hard life., full of sorrows and misery. His sadness has cast a shadow over the poet too, making him also gloomy.

He kept in mind all the good things his mother and Ramesh told him about Mr Nath and formed his opinion based on them. He was upset with Mr Nath being so lean and thin. He thought that the man might be starving so he went to his place and gave him a bar of chocolate.

“My Papa’s Waltz” Speaker The speaker of the poem is the son, the child who waltzes with his drunk father. The tension between father and son—and potentially the violence between them—is thus something that the speaker has experienced himself. And it is something that has stayed with the speaker.