Both the poems “My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are poems in which the speaker (a son in both cases) attempts to explain his complex relationship with his father. It seems that the two poets reflect on their early life as boys and show a different appreciation towards their father. In my interpretation “My Papa's Waltz” is about a boy who is excited that his father has come home to play with him. The only problem is that the speaker's father is drunk and finds it hard to have fun, but he resisted because the unconditional love he has for him, as the line says “The whiskey on your breath / could make a man dizzy lad; / But I hung like death:” (1-2-3). However, "Those Winter Sundays" is more about a boy who didn't really appreciate his father's tough love and hard work to keep the house warm as the third verse said "what did I know, what did I know / of austere love ?" and lonely offices?" (13-14). Both poems deal with a father and son with the same setting, only one can be more negative than the other and also can give you different judgments and have different attitudes. In "My Papa's Waltz" the whole scenario takes place in the speaker's house. When the boy's father comes into the house drunk, he plays with him roughly throughout the house, which I think is very inappropriate given that he is a "little boy." (2) As they continue to play they energetically enter the kitchen and drop the pots from the shelf. While his father was carrying him to bed "waltzing", he appears to be the one holding his father from falling while his father loses his balance. and hurts himself with his belt buckle, since he's a little boy. Shown here "With every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle" ...... center of card .... ..they are working hard and keeping the cold outside and not in his house. Looking back, the poets realized that their father worked so hard and so much, he loved them unconditionally. I like when he realizes this because he said “What did I know, what did I know” (13). All in all, both poems are an amazing realization of the past with their father's relationships and a reflection on some positive or negative moments in their life. screw. While the poet thought he had a good father when he was young, he looks back and analyzes that his father played with him when he was drunk and basically was the one who supported him in his moment of imbalance. When it should have been the other way around. Even though in “Winter Sundays” the boy didn't care about his father's hard work and didn't show any kind of appreciation, he realizes that he was an exceptional father who had a lot to give.