In order for a poem to be considered written in closed form there has to be structural integrity to the poem, where there is repetition of meter, rhyme or stanza. Roethke uses all three of these components in “My Papa’s Waltz.” He rhymes the last word of every other line with each other. For example in lines one and three, and two and four the words, “breath” and “death” rhyme as well as “dizzy” and “easy”. This pattern of rhyming continues throughout the poem in each stanza, which is another key item to a closed form poem. Roethke wrote this poem in four stanzas all made up of four lines very similar in length and each of the lines have six to seven syllables creating rhythm. The rhythm and the rhymes help set the tone of the poem by making it happy and
In order for a poem to be considered written in closed form there has to be structural integrity to the poem, where there is repetition of meter, rhyme or stanza. Roethke uses all three of these components in “My Papa’s Waltz.” He rhymes the last word of every other line with each other. For example in lines one and three, and two and four the words, “breath” and “death” rhyme as well as “dizzy” and “easy”. This pattern of rhyming continues throughout the poem in each stanza, which is another key item to a closed form poem. Roethke wrote this poem in four stanzas all made up of four lines very similar in length and each of the lines have six to seven syllables creating rhythm. The rhythm and the rhymes help set the tone of the poem by making it happy and