Topic > The Father's Role in "The Gift" and "My Papa's Waltz" of the eyes. Comparing these two poems, we can say that what stands out the most is the similar theme: each boy received a gift from his father. In both poems the father has a lot of influence on his son, as the speaker is a boy who learns from his father's actions rather than his words. Both speakers have a similar attitude towards the head of the family – the father, which can be understood through the speakers' tone, figurative language and memorable images. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In terms of narrative voice, the speakers in “The Gift” and “My Papa’s Waltz” are also very similar. The diction in both poems makes it clear that the speaker now is an adult thinking back to a childhood memory. The speaker of "The Gift" recalls a time when his father took a splinter out of his hand. He says: «I was seven years old when my father took my hand like this» (24-25). Although the shared memory is an experience the speaker had when he was seven years old, he tells the story as an adult. The speaker has carried some moments from his childhood with him over the years, and is now older and already married. This sense of remembrance is clear when the speaker says, “I bend over my wife's right hand” (20). Likewise, the speaker of “My Papa's Waltz” recalls a time when he played with his father. The speaker recalls, “With every step you missed/my right ear scratched a buckle” (11-12). The images here reveal that the boy is as tall as his father's buckle. Like “The Gift,” the diction of the poem confirms that the boy is now an adult. For example, the speaker recalls that "such a waltz was not easy" (4). Remembering as an adult, the speaker is able to describe the game with his father as a waltz. What makes these poems unique is the way both narrators recount their experiences through the innocent eyes of a child. This childhood view further helps illuminate how the boys felt about their fathers and the father-son relationships they shared. In both poems, the boys see their fathers seriously and innocently, and each poem sets a tone by revealing how each boy felt. admiration and unconditional love for his father. In “The Gift,” the speaker uses a heartfelt metaphor to describe his father's voice: “[I] still hear his voice, a well/ of dark water, a prayer” (7-8). In relating his father's voice to a well of dark water, the speaker refers to the memory of his father's voice as something profound that he will never forget. His father's voice as a prayer means that it is something very sacred to the boy even now that he is a man. The boy feels very proud of being a man just like his father whom he admires. This is seen in the description of him taking the splinter from his wife's hand: "See how I shave her thumbnail / so carefully that she feels no pain" (21-22). Likewise in “My Papa's Waltz” the boy loves his father unconditionally, so much so that he doesn't want to stop playing to go to bed; “waltzed me to bed / Still clinging to your shirt” (14-15) The speaker admires his father who has “whisky on [his] breath” (1), a “dirt-encrusted palm” (13 ), and a hand “knuckled” (9). The description of his father makes it clear that he is a rough, masculine and hard-working man. The speaker's diction, such as “I held on as if I were dead” (3), has a rough feel and emulates these qualities of his father, reiterating the admiration he has for him. The.
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