
The who, what, when, where, and why. These are the core elements that make up a works of fiction.  We can see that Theodore Roethke’s poem is about a child's memory of their father. However, we also need to look at the author in this situation to further understand the meaning behind his poem. Theodore Roethke was a first generation German immigrant. His father and uncle died early on in his teenage years, which would stand as a major influence for Roethke’s literary work.  When analyze and compare the characters, theme, and setting of this poem, we can gain a better understanding of the lasting impression left by a childhood memory of his father.

The who. Roethke writes the poem from the perspective of a small boy. The boy, who is unnamed, is the protagonist of the story, and the father is the antagonist. We can also infer that he’s a hardworking man whose hands are, “caked hard by dirt” and “battered on one knuckle” (Roethke). The mother is also present, but she is only mentioned in line of the poem. 

 The what. The poem involves the main character’s father being inherently drunk and dancing around the house with his son. This dance, however, is subject to one or two drunken stupors. The rhyme of the poem also plays a role in this whole “waltz”.  The poem follows an ABAB structure, which can be seen as following the pattern of a waltz. 

The when. If we look at the time period when this was written, we see that it was written during prohibition. Now looking at the poem in relation to the prohibition, we can determine quite easily that the main character’s father is a drunk. This can just as easily be gathered by reading the poem, but maybe that is the point. Maybe, the author wants the father to be known as a drunk because that’s all he remembers him as. This poem may not be about a waltz but instead about the memory of his father being obscenely drunk and trying to dance with him late at night.

The where.With this being such a short poem there is not much in the ways of where the poem take place. We do have the notion that the poem takes place in the family’s house, more specifically the kitchen and boy’s bedroom. However, if we include information stated in the preamble from the Carolina Reader about Roethke and his father managing a large green house and the lines about the boy’s father’s hands being covered in dirt we can infer that this poem takes place at Roethke’s parents’ house.

The why.The why is where it all comes together. In the second stanza, we see the author chose the word “romped” as a verb for the boy and his father’s dance through the kitchen. This use of word choose lends a playful quality to their waltz.This would indicate the author saw this as a playful action, and may have thought his mother’s look of disapproval was towards the duo knocking pans off the shelf. However, it is more likely the mother’s discontent was directed at the father’s alcohol induced state. This could also indicate the author’s parents were in a broken marriage due to several potential factors, but undoubtedly related to the father’s drinking habits. This is further solidified when the “mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke). Moving on down the poem we can see Roethke say “At every step you missed” (Roethke), which refers to his father dying early on in the author’s life leaving him to take care of the family and taking on huge responsibility early on in life “My right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke). Finally, moving down to the last two lines we really see a reference to the author’s resentment to his father dying early. The author unable to change the course of his father’s actions is “waltzed off to bed” (Roethke). With his father gone, Roethke is left “still clinging” to his father shirt and now responsible for all his father left behind. In closing, we see that Roethke’s poem is one of resentment for his father’s early death shrouded by a memory of joy for the time he had with him.
