A Waltz With Death On Crystal Stairs Essay

My pas Waltz, 1948 In this numbers by Theodor Roethke, the vocaliser is describing his childhood in the arms of his drunken aim. He recalls how his father comes home intoxicated with alcohol and drives both(prenominal) him and his m separatewise crazy. Theodor Roethke was a great poet and the moods of his poetry redact from acid wit to simple feeling. Some of his other poems argon Open House (1941), The Lost give-and-take and Other Poems (1948), The Waking (1953, Pulitzer Prize), Words for the Wind (1957), I AmSays the Lamb (1961), and The Far Field (1964). Because I could not chip off for finis, 1863 In this poem by Emily Dickinson, the poet seems to position herself in eternity as she recalls her flavor. expiration is portrayed as a gentleman and Immortality is with them as they ride in a carriage that passes sceneries that draw the tether major stages of human disembodied spirit birth, adolescence and rare age. Emily Dickinson is considered unrivalled of the most original 19th blow Ameri female genital organ poets.She is noted for her unconventional broken rhyme meter and use of dashes and random capitalization as well as her creative use of fable and overall innovative style. Some of her poems are Fame is a fickle food, I plentynot live with you, I felt a Funeral, in my Brain and Im Nobody Who are you? Mother to Son, 1932 In this poem by Langston Hughes, a mother is advising his son not to give up on life by recalling her own misgivings in the past. The mother decides to compare her life to steps and describes how hard it was to climb it.Langston Hughes was a fat writer. In the forty y pinnules when he setoff wrote a book until his death in 1967, he wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, quadruple volumes of editorial and documentary fiction, twenty plays, childrens poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts and lots of magazine articles and edite d seven anthologies. Some of his other distinguished poems are The Weary Blues (1926), The pitch blackness Mother and other Dramatic Recitations (1931) and The Dream steward (1932).The profound illustrations in Theodor Roethkes My Papas Waltz, Emily Dickinsons Because I Could Not Stop For Death and Langston Hughes Mother to Son make readers reflect on the lives of their poets and descry on their own existence. My Papas Waltz is a joy to analyze because the fable or the waltz has brought intimately precise contrasting reflections on the poem. With lines such as But I hung on like death such waltzing was not wanton (Kennedy and Gioia 674) many another(prenominal) critics have come to infer the poem in the light of a father and son playing roughly and enjoying their quality moment.However, many scholars similarly think that Roethke is actually using the fiction of a waltz to describe child abuse. The condition romped seems to show enjoyment. However, pans sliding from the kitchen shelves and the boys ear scraping on his fathers fringe buckle with every missed step contradict the poets maiden description of the dance. According to fast one J. McKenna in his article, Roethkes Revisions and The impression Of My Papas Waltz, the holograph manuscripts of My Papas Waltz pro capacious that Roethke himself tried to balance the negative and positive tones of the poem, resulting in its rich ambiguity.Emily Dickinson is famous for her great use of metaphors. The first line of the poem Because i could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me( Kennedy and Gioia 1019) seems to be about a girl who has contemplated committing suicide in the past. In the end of the poem she seems to be happy that she did not push through with it because she was after all, ready to obey living. However, the metaphors used to portray death and immortality as persons can be confusing and easily understood in a varied light.William Galperin reflects on these metaphors from th e point of regard of a feminist. In his critique compiled by Donna Campbell of uppercase asseverate University, he believes that death embodies societys perception that a cleaning woman has to get unite and live a domesticated life objet dart the poem similarly redefined immortality as a womans self-possession, or the result of a refusal to discontinue society the prerogative of selecting her. There are also some scholars who believe that Dickinson is actually hinting on seduction in this poem.It is very easy to get disordered in Dickinsons metaphors and even scholars themselves have different points of reflections on it. However, these metaphors are what make her poem in truth distinct and interesting. In the poem, Mother To Son, Langston Hughes seems to be referring to a stereo-typical mother advising his son on how to deal with life. It is easy to think that the poem just wants to scram a more mature person trying to cultivate someone to move on. Life for me aint been no crystal stair (Kennedy and Gioia 1031) clearly uses the metaphor of the stair delegacy to make readers understand that life is not easy.Words like splinters boards torn up and bare can be interpreted as hardships in life. The poets use of the crystal stairs also seems to describe an easy and comfortable life or heaven to some. However, in the light of the generation when the poem was written, scholars believe that the message is related to racial discrimination. Aidan Wasley, in the book, Poetry for Students, believes that it becomes easy to see Hughess mother figure as something like a racial matriarch addressing her scattered children and exhorting them to keep on climbing on their way to freedom.The lives and beliefs of the authors of the three poems are deeply embedded in the metaphors they used. It is their masterful way of weaving these mere words intricately that convey such powerful messages and remarkable stories that one can only appreciate by reflecting on ones own d ecisions and principles. These poetic devices are very effective in making one contemplate and were successful and shall keep the poems truly alive long after their poets have gone.Works CitedKeneddy, X. J. , and Dana Gioia. Literature an approach to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. New York, New York Pearson and Longman, 2007. McKenna, John J. Roethkes Revisions And The Tone Of My Papas Waltz, 1998. University of Nebraska at Omaha. 15 April 2007 http//www. mrbauld. com/exrthkwtz. html. Wasley, Aidan. An Overview of Mother To Son Poetry For Students. Gale, 1998. Wsu. edu. Campbell, Donna. Washington State University. 15 April 2007 .