Detailed Memories

The poems, “Bored” by Margaret Atwood and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, both convey the similar message that it’s the details in life that are important, and that if we don’t pay attention, we just might miss the true beauty of life. Both poems are also about a memory of a father, and remembering the lessons he taught them. In each of the two poems, the speaker is also trying to convey to us that it’s the little things in life that matter the most.
In “Bored”, the speaker starts out by describing his or her point of view before the father provides the speaker with a revelation of what life truly is about. The speaker describes his or her self as being “bored” with life, wanting to escape the mundane house chores such as helping to saw the firewood or weed the garden. However, in line 14, the tone of the poem begins to change a little bit as the speaker begins to describe the intricate details that he or she notices, including, “the graying bristles on the back of his neck”. From the way the speaker speaks of the man in the poem, it is strongly hinted at that this might be his or her father, and the reader begins to get a sense that the poem may be about the lessons passed form a father to son. From line 29 to 39, the true message of the poem in revealed. The speakers mentions how, “he pointed such things out”, meaning how his or her father would point out the small wonders of the world, such as the way animals also spend most of the time doing “chores” as human do and that these things shouldn’t be boring, but treated as a necessary part of living. It is then that the speaker stops referring to “I” and begins to reflect on all the wondrous details in the world, such as the “whorled texture of his finger, earth under nail”, and realizes that when you wish you were some place else, its only because you lack the wisdom to appreciate the things around you.
In “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker is also reflecting on a memory of their father, and they are also embracing the little details about their father that remind the speaker of him. He talks about “the whiskey on your breath” as if this smell, though unpleasant, still reminds me of you. More importantly, the speaker reflects on the memory with fondness and remembers the details of his father such as, “ the hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” and how these details help to create a mental image of the speaker’s father. It may be that this is one of the few memories that the son has of his father, and therefore holds it very close to his heart.