“Those Winter Sundays” & “My Papa’s Waltz” Essay

By: Emma Crowley 711

Sometimes children don’t understand how much their parents do for them because they love them. Poems show lessons that you can use as you go through life. The poems “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, both show the love parents express to their children but in different ways. These poems with similar themes can be presented differently.

“Those Winter Sundays” by Theodore Roethke is about a boy telling the reader how hard his father worked for their family and how the father was never thanked. “No one ever thanked him” the speaker said. His love is too hard to distinguish as love, so is never thanked for what he does for his family. The speaker makes the reader think about how parents can express their love for their children in a subtle way. It also makes the reader think about how we should appreciate people who do things for us and how people can show their love in different ways. We see this in the line “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking./ When the rooms were warm, he’d call,”. This shows the reader that the father woke up early in the freezing cold to make a fire so his family wouldn’t be cold when they woke up. This is a sacrifice that the father made for his family. We see the father as a very selfless person. Although this example is hard to identify as love, it is. A final example is at the end of the poem the speaker says “What did I know, what did I know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices.” (Love’s austere means stern/ very plain love. Offices is a role someone takes on.) The father is displaying his love for his family in a a very plain way that isn’t usually classified as love. In the end the father shows the message of love in his own way.

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is about a child telling the reader about how he waltzed with his father. This father has a completely different way of showing his love towards his son that “Those Winter Sunday’s”. When this father comes home to his son he plays and waltzes with him. For example the speaker was telling the reader about how “ We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf,”. Now romping means to play in a lively way, showing that the father was frolicking around with his son to express his love. His father wants to continuously express this feeling to his son by having a good time together whenever he can. For example “Then you waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt.”. This is showing two things, one that he puts his child to bed sending this message of love. Secondly it shows that the child recognizes this message from his father and the love he (the child) feels for his father, that he doesn't want to let him go (still clinging to your shirt). All in all this poem shows that the father is affectionate towards his son in his own way, and his son recognizes this act.

In conclusion the thing that makes these poems similar is how the fathers show their passion they have for their children, but what makes these poems different is in the way they show it. One father shows his love by working hard to take care of his family and the other father shows his love by interacting and playing with his family.  We see that these poems show that parents do these different little acts of kindness to express their fondness for their children. Sometimes it can be hard to notice that what they are doing is because they love you. And sometimes we can’t know that someone’s actions are how they express love to us.

Emma Crowley 711

When You Reach Me

By Rebecca Stead

Friends surround our lives and through these friendships we can learn many life lessons.  The Book “When You Reach Me” by Rebecca Stead is about a young girl named Miranda and it’s a very important time in her life, a big turning point. She has many things going on, her only best friend gets punched then doesn’t talk to her anymore, she makes some new friends, gets a new job, and even more. The story shows many themes throughout the book. A big theme in the book is friendship and it teaches you, the reader, and Miranda many things about life.
One reason the book shows friendship as a theme is through the relationship between Sal and Miranda. Throughout the story we see this relationship change a lot. It started out as them being the best of friends. They did everything together. Miranda says talking about this time in their friendship [page 17] “I used to think of Sal as being part of me.” We see here that they had such a strong relationship that they felt like part of each other. It’s good to have a friend like that.  But the thing is they had each other, ONLY each other. This was a problem.[page 167] “Remember… when you got sick? I spent that whole week alone.” This shows the reader that they only had each other as friends and when one was not around the other was simply lost and alone. When you only have one really good friend, it’s the only person you have to depend on. In the end the lesson we learn though this friendship is that having only one friend can be a problem.
Another reason when the book shows friendship as a theme is through the relationship between Annemarie and Julia. These friends had a fight, [page 35] “Julia told her [Annemarie] that, as punishment, she wasn’t going to have lunch with Annemarie for the remainder of the week.”. This “punishment” ruined their relationship. Annemarie and Julia drifted apart. The thing is friends can be mad at each other but they still love each other and wouldn’t let anything or anyone hurt them. For example, Jimmy (owner of the sandwich place Miranda, Colin, and Annemarie work at) thought that Julia stole his money because she is black. Annemarie heard this and got mad.[page 129] “You racist pig!” she yelled at Jimmy. Annemarie was mad at Julia but they were such good friends that that couldn’t let anything happen to each other. Julia felt terrible about the whole thing, the break up, and drifting away from each other. Miranda notices this, [page 144] “ It was Julia that left the rose for Annemarie… Julia cared about Annemarie”. No matter what kind of fights they get into they won’t forget each other because of this strong bond they have created. The lesson we learn within their relationship is that sometimes friends have fights but if your are true friends you’ll always make up and care about each other.
A final reason when we see that friendship is a theme in this book is with the relationship between Miranda and Marcus. Marcus and Miranda had a very bad start. When she first officially met him she realized something, “[page 47] It was the boy who hit Sal”.  Miranda thought that Marcus was the reason her and Sal “broke up”.  As we go through the story Miranda starts to talk more and more to Marcus, and created a relationship. Miranda starts to realize that Marcus isn’t as bad as she thought. “[page 167] I suddenly got how totally stupid I’d been, never telling Sal that Marcus was an okay kid”. Eventually they become friends. For example on page 173 “I think a kid is going to get arrested. A friend.”  Without Miranda noticing she was gaining a new friend with the same kind of relationship as Annemarie and Julia. At first Miranda and Marcus were in a “fight” (punching Sal). Then they became friends and look out for each other (Marcus almost getting arrested). A lesson from this relationship is that sometimes you can make a friend without even knowing or trying.

In conclusion, throughout the story we see that Friendship is a big theme in the book. We also see that friendships can be in different forms and end with different lessons. There are many relationships in the book that show this, Miranda and Sal, Annemarie and Julia, and, Miranda and Marcus. Friends are an important part of your life and they can help you get through tough times, in many different ways.