poetry essay

poetry essay for "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays"

There are good ways and bad ways for a father to express love for his son. In "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden the father expresses love for his son by getting up early every day and working hard to make his son comfortable. In "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethkethe the father expresses his love by fooling around, drinking, and making a mess. The father in "Those Winter Sundays" has a better way of showing the love he has for his son.

Both fathers in the poems work hard doing some form of labor, but the father in "Those Winter Sundays" works harder and does more work for his son than the one in "My Papa's Waltz. The father in "Those Winter Sundays" doesn't fool around making more work for his family by making a mess, he wakes up early every morning and builds a fire. In "Those Winter Sundays" it says "I'd wake and hear the cold splintering breaking/ when the rooms were warm, he'd call/ and slowly I would rise and dress,.' His father woke up early and made a fire so his family could get dressed in the warm. This is a sacrifice the speaker's dad made for him to express his love. He spent his time making sure his son was comfortable. The father in 'My Pap's Walt" spent the free time he had drinking and fooling around with his son. The poem says "The whiskey on your breath/ could make a small boy dizzy/ but I hung on like death/ such waltzing was not easy." The speaker's father obviously had a lot to drink if it could "make a small boy dizzy" and after drinking he waltzed around the house with his son in not the most pleasant way. Both fathers love their sons but the father in "Those Winter Sundays" expresses it in a more positive and thoughtful way.

Both these fathers are hardworking. In "Those Winter Sundays" The father wakes up early in the cold for his family. Th poem says "Sundays too my father got up early/ and put on his clothes in the blue black cold,/ then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made/ banked fires blaze." Even on Sundays which is a day of rest the father gets up early instead of sleeping like the rest of his family. He has has hands that are cracked and aching so he works hard with his hands in a field of work that is very difficult. In "My Papa's Waltz it says "You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt." The dad works hard at work doing some form of labor which is why his palm is caked with dirt, but doesn't seem to do work for his son like the father in "Those Winter Sundays" who woke up early every day even Sunday morning to build a fire so his son could get dressed in the warm and he also polished his good shoes. 

Both poems are about children remembering their fathers. In "Those Winter Sundays" the son is remembering how much work his dad did for him and how he didn't thank him. In "My Papa's Waltz" the son is remembering a fun moment with his father, even though his father expressed his love in a weird way.

A Wrinkle in Time Literary essay

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that, hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that." This is one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s most memorable quotes. Meg from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle can relate to Dr. King's inspiring words, because Meg learned from personal experience that only love can defeat hate and only light can conquer darkness. Through this book Meg travels through time and space to find her lost father, with her brother, Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin. Meg's father is trapped behind the dark thing and in order to get him she must fight the dark thing. Ms. Who, Ms. Whatsit, and Ms. Which who are magical beings who were once stars lead her on this journey. However, before Meg can fight the dark thing she must know what she's up against. In order to do this Ms. Whatsit takes Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin to a planet with a very thin atmosphere so they can see the dark thing. Since they are human and require oxygen to stay alive, Ms. Whatsit gave them beautiful flowers that gave them the oxygen they needed to survive on this planet, in order to see the dark thing. 

Meg needs to fight the dark thing in order to save her father's life. The flower lets her see the dark thing all while keeping her alive so she can accomplish her goal. "The atmosphere is so thin here," Ms.Whatsit said as though an answer to her unasked question, "That it does not obscure your vision as it would at home. Now look straight ahead." Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin have never known about the dark thing, because u can't see it from Earth, but now even though she hasn't known about it, or seen it for very long the dark thing is all Meg can thing about, because it is what is standing in the way of being with her father. "Meg's hand holding the blossoms slowly dropped and it seemed as though a knife gashed through her lungs. She gasped, but there was no air for her to breath. Darkness glazed her eyes and mind, but as she started to fall into unconsciousness her head dropped down into the flowers which she was still clutching; and as she inhaled the fragrance of their purity her mind and body revived, and she sat up again." The flower is what is keeping Meg alive and allowing her to fight. Without it the darkness will take her life and her fathers only hope of escaping the Dark thing. The flower symbolizes life and love which Meg needs to defeat the Dark thing. 

In order to help Charles Wallace get out of the control of IT Meg has to let go of her hate and show what she has that IT doesn't have: love. In order to save Charles Wallace she shows how much she loves him. "No, it was not anger it was loathing; it was hatred, sheer and unadulterated, and as she became lost in hatred she also began to be lost in IT. Meg thought that what she had that IT didn't have was hate. She thought that if she hated IT enough, IT would loose it's control over Charles Wallace. But it has hate, hate made it worse, hate makes everything worse. If Meg kept on hating IT, IT would have taken control of Meg. Luckily Meg realizes that hate is not the way to win over Charles Wallace, love was!

IN order for Meg to clearly see what she has to do she needs help. The flower is not the only thing to help Meg, in the end it is also the help of Ms. Who, Ms. Whatsit, and Ms. Which. Meg learns from them that she has to use what IT doesn't have, to save Charles Wallace, love. Meg's love is what saves Charles Wallace's life. Meg realized that hate got her no where only love did.