Poetry - Expression of Art

Poetry is an individual form of literal expression of art. Authors tend to use many different techniques to express meaning to the reader in a certain way. Elizabeth Bishop "The Fish" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa Waltz" both portray the use of imagery in different ways. Also, the use of imagery makes the reader aware and allows them to visualize what exactly is going on.

In "My Papa Waltz" the theme basically is a man remembering his past childhood of his drunken father abusing him. The 1st line "The whiskey on your breath" stood out to me because the image of whiskey is not a good sign. Also, it awakens the reader with a strong image. In the next line it basically says the smell of the liquor was so strong the little boy got "dizzy". The image of the "dizzy" little kid can show you that the father is careless and the kid doesn't know what exactly is going on. As the poem goes on the father basically is dragging the kid holding him by the wrist. The father was so cruel to the kid that in one of the lines the kid says "I hung on like death." The author uses the word death to portray a stark visual image. Also, "I hung on like death" is a simile which gives the reader an intense image of the person hanging on, can't let go.