Literary Essay

Literary Essay

Father and son relationships are different for everyone. In the poems “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden and “My Papas Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke the speaker shows the relationships with their father. In Hayden’s poem, the speaker and his fathers relationship is much more closed and shut out. In Roethke’s poem, the father and the sons relationship is more open and connected because the speaker shows their bonds.


Both poems show different relationships. In Hayden’s poem the speaker feels sorry for his dad. For example, in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states “Sundays too my father got up early and put on his clothes on in the blueblack cold then with cracked hands that ached for labor in the weekday weather made banked fire blaze.” This example describes his father a hard worker and that he never really takes a break. The speaker looks back to that  day and regrets how he never realized how hard his father worked. In the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the father and son relationship is loving and the poem how close they both are. For example, it states “We romped until the pans slid the kitchen shelf;”. This example shows that the son and the father are closer together, and more connected. The author demonstrate how they connected without taking, and showed their love for each other.  

An example that is similar in the two poems is they both have a special moment that explain the whole poem. For example in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states he'd call and slowly I would rise and dress”. This shows how he would listen to his father would get up early and work on a sunday.” In the poem “My Papas Waltz” it states “ Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt.” This example shows the father and sons connection and how that moment they would be even closer.



In conclusion, their are some similar and different ways in each of the poems that express the theme which is relationships. In the poems “ Those Winter Sundays”, The relationship between the father and the son is shown by regret and understanding but in the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the theme is shown by caring and loving. But there are different ways of showing love and feelings.  

Book Club Essay: Night

"IF IN MY LIFETIME I WAS to write only one book, this would be the one", says author  Elie Wiesel of "Night".The book takes place during the Holocaust. The author uses the language from the book to express how he felt and how it connected with the author during that time.


Elie Wiesel shows and describes his feeling and what he experienced in the book. For example, he explains the one night that changed his whole life, "Never shall I forget that Night, the first night in camp, that tired my life into one long night seven times sealed."This line shows a lot of meaning because it describes how Wiesel just started a new life on that night. He new exactly how that night would end. On that same night he lost his mother and sister because they were to weak to go on, and after that night he gave up on his dad and lost him to. He turned in to someone he didn't want to become. Elie was ready to give up everything , to lost everything, and never come back. One power line that explains this is, "Deep down, I was saying good-bye to my father, to the whole universe..." The author is trying to explain that he never knew if he could keep fighting, he was questing himself, and Elie had to think what would be next in his life. What would he have to lost.



In "Night" Elie Wiesel was even excited to still be alive and to kept going. For example, in the book there is example of him thanking God for his life which is what he expressed,"Freed from the barbers' clutches, we began to wander about the crowd, finding friends, acquaintances. Every encounter filled us with joy-yes joy: Thank God! You are still alive!" Elie is shocked and overwhelmed that he is still living. He thought for sure he was going to die on those same haunting nights. Another example is that he felt convinced himself that he will die and give up because there was nothing to live for, "I began to think to myself again. My foot was aching, I shivered with every step. Just a few more meters and it will be over.



In conclusion, Elie Wiesel uses different ways to express how he was feeling in the moments it happened. He used a lot of powerful lounge in his book to make you feel as if you were in the book. In the book Elie is either relieved to still be alive or ready to give up at any time. He changes a lot throughout the book. In a way he regrets how he changed.