




Theodore Roethke had a rough childhood. His father dyed of cancer and his uncle committed suicide. He used these negative impacts on his life to create pieces of work based on the father figure roles he experienced. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the speaker uses words to negatively describe his father but at the same time shows how forgiving a child can be. The childish point of view the speaker holds blinds him from the actual abuse he is experiencing by his father as a young boy. Readers are able to understand Roethke’s true meaning behind the poem through his comparison of the symbolic waltz and his drunk, abusive father.

The poem itself can be related to the form of a waltz. Following the ABAB rhyme scheme of the poem, the framework of a waltz is first created. The waltz is a structural ballroom dance that travels over a large area, this can be compared to the shuffle and sway of a drunken person as he or she travels unsteadily. The 123, 123 steps a dancer takes during the waltz correspond to the rhythm and beats of the lines in each stanza. As the father stumbles and sways into the child’s presence all he knows to call it is a dance. The dance is the waltz of his father. Swinging arms and a drunken shuffle as they “romped until the pans/ slid form the kitchen shelf” shows the unvoiced chaos behind his steps (line 5-6).  

The underlying assumption we can assume is the father comes home drunk, travels through the kitchen, and encounters the mother who undoubtedly does not play a big role in stopping the abuse of the child. A lack of awareness or intelligence can be distinguished by the speaker in this poem because instead of being scared of his father he uses words like “but I hung on like death: / such waltzing was not easy” (line 3-4). This simile means his father’s waltz was hard for the young boy to understand, but he still adhered to his father’s side while trying to learn his moves for the night. The speaker also shows forgiveness and how he is not frightened of his father by still allowing him to take him to bed clinging to his shirt (line 15-16). Never is it present to the reader through the speaker’s words or actions that the boy believes he knows what abuse is. Instead, he perceives his father’s actions as a normal routine because he does not know any better than to describe the actions as a waltz. 

As a reader we can consider the violence behind the words being used in the poem. Interpreting words like  “battered, beat and romped ” as abuse. The title does not come off as violent, but throughout the poem some lines can be judged violently. A literal interpretation of beating can be seen in “you beat time on my head” (line 15).  Although this is a metaphor used by the author, we as readers can compile all the words together to make abuse the answer. The unsafe words could also be interpreted as the father trying to forcefully help the kid grow up. Roethke’s imagery of “at every step you missed/ my right ear scraped a buckle” allows the reader to refer back to the waltz formation by mentioning steps (line 11-12). Altogether, the speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz” unknowingly still holds love for his father by positively describing the situation he grows up in. On the other hand, the true meaning of the poem is revealed when readers take in the unsettling lines and identify the unsafe environment for the child.

Roethke’s significance behind the comparison between a waltz and a drunken father is made clear by the negative diction used to describe abuse throughout the poem. The details inside are ironic but uniting the structure of the waltz and the structure of the poem brings the meaning together. The speaker’s point of view shows the child’s unconditional forgiveness and optimism towards his father. As expressed from the reader’s perspective qualities of abuse are present. Varying interpretations can be made whether this poem is a positive or negative way of remembering a father depending on each reader’s experiences in life and reasons behind them. 



 