"MY PAPA'S WALTZ"
Draft #2 of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke    

Contributing author: Michelle Ephraim, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Click on the links below to access PDFs of Theodore Roethke’s second draft of “My Papa’s Waltz.”

Answer the following questions in your notebook—this will be collated so that you can print or e-mail your work when you are finished.
 
 

1). Consider Roethke’s use of formal and informal language in the various titles. How would our impression of the speaker’s attitude toward his father change with each different title? Why do you think Roethke was indecisive about the title?
 
 

2). With the narrator a girl, how does the relationship between father and child change? How does the relationship between mother and father change?
 


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