



Children never worry about their future, the challenges they may face or the hardships that could arise because they clutch on to their childhood innocence, completely unaware. Adults can only dream about returning to the times when life was easy, where the drawbacks in life were simply deciding what sandwich to have mommy pack in the school lunch that day. As a young boy, Theodore Roethke, was a kid filled with naiveté which he greatly portrays throughout his poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”. According to literary critic, Philip K. Jason, even as a child Thomas Roethke appreciated the Arts and literature, while his father engaged in activities that were understood to be more ‘manly’ such as: sports, hunting and fishing. In his piece, “My Papa’s Waltz”, Roethke illustrates the disconnect between him and his father, concealed by his childhood innocence, demonstrating the relationship with his father that he yearns for.

Children desire nothing more than to feel love and affection. Parental adoration is a necessity for a strong mental state for a growing, youthful child. These qualities allow kids to cultivate into confident adolescents and adults. Theodore Roethke longed for that care from his father throughout his boyhood. Roethke, despite being young, recognizes the smell of alcohol on his father’s breath when he comes home, yet continues to grasp on to him, he says “But I hung on like death” (90). Roethke chooses to forego the evident fact that his father is under the influence of alcohol, proving his young innocence. He wishes for nothing more than the acceptance of his father to cherish him for the individual he is, rather than pretending to be something he’s not. The whole poem represents Roethke’s ache for a connection with his father, and the importance of parental love for a child.  

Innocence is a beautiful gift children are blessed with. A newborn has not seen war, experienced a death of someone they knew, watched their mother fight breast cancer or been a bystander to racism or encountered police brutality. A newborn has not succumbed to the imperfections of this world, they cling to their innocence. Children are known to make serious situations lighthearted, almost always unintentionally. Roethke refers to his father’s drunk saunter as a dance. Referring to his father, he says that he, “waltzed me off to bed” (91). Even at such a young age, Roethke recognizes the smell of alcohol on his father’s breath. Nevertheless, he chooses to neglect the fact and allude the stumbling to a rhythmic dance that him and his father partake in. Describing this movement as a dance symbolizes the extent Roethke goes to in order to connect with his father, furthermore proving his moral purity.  

Several lines in the poem touch upon the various unacceptable behavior Roethke’s father performs. Roethke says that his father is not only drunk when he stumbles into the kitchen of their home, but he was also in some kind of physical exchange. Whether that altercation was in or outside the house, he says “The hand that held my wrist/ Was battered on one knuckle” (91). Although a young boy, Roethke still recognizes what is occurring right in front of his eyes but chooses to surrender that knowledge on account of his innocence. Even at the end of the poem, after he explains the evident look of disapproval on his mother’s face and the symbolic weight of yearning for a father-son connection on his shoulders, Roethke is still “clinging to (his) shirt” (91). He wants to feel close and connected to his father, yearning for love. There is nothing more this blameless young boy wants than to be loved by his father.

Theodore Roethke’s piece, “My Papa’s Waltz” is very controversial due to its examples of both positive and negative experience for a youthful, innocent child. His poem proves the power in which love has, demonstrating the intense affection that children desire, and will do nearly anything to gain. One thing a child will never give up, that an adolescent and adult might, is hope. A young mind is full of hope and optimism, it is not until one day, where an incident occurs in which those dreams are crushed that they lose their innocence. In losing this part of them, they succumb to this bitter, insane world. That point for Thomas Roethke begins with the waltz. This dance that he participates in is one he certainly does not enjoy, but he joins in anyway because he is filled with an innocence that attaches him to his father. 



