English 103 Blog #4 - Extra Credit

English 103 - Blog #4 Extra Credit

Discussion Questions

1) “Forgiving My Father”
Characterize the father in Lucille Clifton’s verse – who was he? What habits/values/beliefs/shortcomings do you identify? (Use the text to explain your ideas). Clifton uses “financial” metaphors and images throughout. How do these work? (Each use, of course, does not literally refer to the father’s money management). A conflict somewhat similar to Plath’s is here raised – what is it? Does the poem “resolve” this tension by its conclusion? Explain. (This, too, is the hallmark of New Criticism; New Critics identify all worth literature as made up of various tensions (often a main or “central” tension that, they say, are resolved, thus forming an “organic unity”).

In Lucille Clifton’s poem, “forgiving my father,” the father is characterized throughout the entire poem as someone who came up short in the speaker’s life. The speaker’s father did not have any type of good values, habits, and had shortcomings that came “due.” In fact, I believe that Clifton uses the “financial” metaphors and images throughout the poem to display these faults and shortcomings that were apparent in the speaker’s father (which could have been her own father). Clifton uses “financial” metaphors and images, such as “it is friday, we have come to the paying of the bills all week long you have stood in my dreams like a ghost, asking for more time but today is payday, payday old man […] (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 254). Furthermore, another financial metaphor that Clifton uses in her poem is at the end of her poem when she states the following: “you are the pocket that was going to open and come up empty any friday…what am i doing here collecting? You lie side by side in debtor’s boxes and no account will open them up” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 254). All of the financial metaphors and images that are embedded into Clifton’s poem are essential in characterizing the speaker’s father. The speaker’s father came up “short” in the speaker’s life, and was always “overdrawn” in the speaker’s life bank account. The speaker’s father probably was a sore disappointment to the speaker as a father – and this could be due to a large variety of reasons. Maybe the father was abusive to the speaker or to the speaker’s mother, or both; maybe the father preferred to spend more time with his drinking glass than with his family; maybe the father preferred to spend more time gambling away the family’s paycheck so the family did not have any food on the table – the list goes on and on. Whatever the reason was, it caused the speaker pain – pain enough that the speaker felt that the father was in “debt,” and those “debts” could never be repaid. The last part financial metaphor in the poem that states, “what am i doing here collecting? you lie side by side in debtor’s boxes and no accounting will open them up” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 254), is one of the most important financial metaphors in the poem. It is one of the most important because it is where the speaker is coming to terms with the father’s debts in his/her life. Furthermore, the speaker is realizing that these debts cannot be “collected” anymore, as the speaker’s father is dead. There is nothing the speaker can do about this dilemma and it is not healthy to carry around this anger forever. I thought that the financial metaphors in this poem really did justice to how Clifton wants to characterize the speaker’s father.
A conflict similar to Plath’s is raised in this poem. The conflict has to do with the speaker’s father dying and not paying back his “debts” to the speaker. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker is angry at the father for never being able to pay back these debts or trying to; the father always came up short on “payday.” The speaker held this resentment for the longest time, and could not understand why the father would not pay these debts back. However, at the conclusion of the poem, the speaker realizes that forgiveness and essentially “letting go” is important in the healing process. The speaker realizes that no matter how badly he/she wants these debts to be paid, they will not, so it is just better to “stop collecting” and move on with life. The speaker realizes this at the end of the poem, and I believe that this realization helps to promote healing instead of continued hatred and anger at the father for all of the wrongdoing that occurred during life. Therefore, in Clifton’s poem, a conflict similar to Plath’s is raised, but the conflict is resolved by the poem conclusion. In the poem “forgiving my father,” written by Lucille Clifton, the author uses financial metaphors and images to characterize the father of the speaker, and even though a problem exists in the poem, it is resolved by the poem’s conclusion.

2) “My Papa’s Waltz”
Readers of “My Papa’s Waltz” interpret the poem very differently; some see it as a tender moment; others view it as antagonist at best. Use the images in the poem to define it as a tender moment between father and son or, alternately, one marked by fear/antagonism/hostility. Consider the use of the word “waltzed” throughout. Does Roethke depend on a traditional, literal definition of the word (denotation) or an implied, perhaps more symbolic meaning (connotation)? This kind of close textual analysis, without any external contextualizing, is the stuff of New Criticism.

The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” written by Theodore Roethke, is a poem about a son reflecting on a particular moment with his father. This poem can be interpreted many different ways; however, after I read the poem, I choose to interpret it as a tender moment between father and son, and one where the son did not want to leave the father. There are quite a few tender moments in the poem. For example, lines six through nine states: “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 256). Furthermore, lines fourteen through seventeen state, “You beat time on my hand With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 256). To me, these lines in the poem are marked by a tender moment between father and son and not fear or hostility. There are a few things that can be pointed to in these lines to prove it this important point. When the father and son were “romping” around the kitchen until the pans slid from the kitchen, they were probably dancing around to good, fun music and having a good time. The mother was frustrated that her kitchen was in disarray and was probably shaking her head with that frown, but inside she was probably happy that father and son were having a little bit of fun together before the father went off drinking again (this was mentioned at the beginning of the poem: “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 256). Next, the father and the son were still dancing around the house having a good time, and the father “beat time on the son’s hand.” This could be interpreted as maybe “beating” the child for getting the father angry, since the father was already intoxicated; however, I do not interpret it this way. I interpret it as the father gently “beating time” on his son’s hand, while smiling, trying to keep the musical mood alive (along with the fun!J). However, when the waltzed his son off to bed, the son did not want to go to bed; instead, he was still “clinging to his shirt.” He had fun with his father, and did not want the fun to stop, or did not want his father to leave him. Lastly, I can picture the father leaving the son’s room (still somewhat intoxicated), but saying, “I love you son, and will we do it again.” Then, the son smiles, and falls asleep. Even though the father was a little bit intoxicated with whiskey at the beginning of the poem, I felt that he is a good father because he loves his son and wants to have fun with him. Therefore, I saw this poem as a tender moment between father and son.
After considering the use of the word, “waltzed” throughout the poem, yes I believe that Roethke depends on the traditional, literal definition of the word. Roethke mentions “waltzed” at the beginning of the poem when the son states, “such waltzing was not easy” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 256). The son probably meant such dancing with his father was difficult because they danced all around the house and he had to keep up with his strong, powerful father. The only other use of “waltzed” in the poem occurs at the ending when the son states, “Then waltzed me off to bed, still clinging to your shirt” (qtd. in Schilb and Clifford 256). The father probably told his son that it was time for bed, and in an effort to stay awake longer, the son clung to his father’s shirt longer. He just did not want to leave his father. I do not think that the father and the son literally did the waltz; they probably just danced around the room in long, graceful moments that were fun and memorable to the son. However, I do believe that they did dance around the house, and probably did it often, as the son recounts it vividly in the poem.
In the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” written by Theodore Roethke, the author of the poem uses vivid images to depict a tender and memorable moment between father and son.