
The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a very riveting and true story that can grab the reader by the shirt and pull them in to a story full of love and hope. This story is, in essence, a “roller coaster” of a poem. There are many themes in this story, but four that are very identifiable. Even though it is a short poem, Roethke tells the story of his own childhood in a very gripping way. The use of few words is what makes this poem special and unlike any other of its kind. In this analytical paper, one will see all the ins and outs that Roethke puts in to his own memoir that was translated into a short poem to show the struggle with his father’s alcoholism, stress in their relationship, and the clumsiness of the author’s father.

This poem starts out with the line “The whiskey on your breath” (Roethke, 90). This one short line in this short poem sets the tone for how the rest of the story will play out. Roethke is using one line to show that his father drank heavily. The author solidifies this statement by using the next line, “Could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke, 90). Breath that reeks so strong of whiskey can only point to alcoholism. Two very powerful short lines defined the author’s relationship with his father. His father was most likely abusive and the relationship was tenuous when the father was without alcohol in his system. In the next two lines, Roethke shows us why the poem is called “My Papa’s Waltz”. The author writes, “But I hung on like death; Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke, 91). He shows how the alcoholism in his father’s life caused many problems, but being a son, the author chose to hang on and stay with his father. The author, struggling with a mental illness, had to also struggle with a drunken father.

A common theme in this poem is that the author’s relationship with his father was very stressful and fragile. This was an unhealthy relationship due to many choices made by his father. In one line, the author states, “The hand that held my wrist; battered on one knuckle” (Roethke, 91). The author’s father was an alcoholic, a parent, and a hardworking man who was generating a revenue for his family and his alcoholic habits. The author’s father was a man who was like any other man, but constantly struggled with one distraction that would never get out of his way until he realized he may lose his family because of it. Roethke describes his hand as “a palm caked hard by dirt”. This shows that he was a working man. One may interpret that the father let work get to him and could not handle a job and raising his family. An interpretation from the text could include that the author’s father was short-tempered and would not be very rational when he would get home. In a typical father’s brain, the first thing a father wants to do when he gets home is see his wife and then his children, but in this short poem, it can be interpreted that the father wants to get home to “see” his alcohol and then see his wife and kids once he has a drink in hand. 

The “waltz” the author is talking about is the walk the father would make when he took the author to bed and the different events it entailed. It is a brilliant piece of literature when one sits down and fully immerses oneself into this very short poem. The author chose to use one simple event that happened during childhood to describe his father and the childhood the author endured because of it. The author shows how fragile the family structure was by including his mother’s disappointment and disgust during the father’s drunken moments in the night. The walk to bed was a tricky one for the father and Roethke and it can be shown by constant stumbles and him being consistently injured by his father’s sloppiness. The author talks about how during this walk to bed, that is a simple task for any father and their child, that “every step he missed; My right ear would scrape a buckle” (Roethke, 91). The author highlights this because he is trying to show how one simple task could not be completed very easily due to the clumsiness created by his father’s alcoholism. The author also furthers this point by saying, “We romped until the pans; Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance; Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke, 91). 

Lastly, a final interpretation from the text could be that the father is trying to still be a parent Roethke. Even though alcohol is affecting him and hurting him, there is an argument that he is still trying. The whole story of his “waltz” with the author is a testament to him still trying to be a good father. Yes, the task itself of the author’s father getting the author to bed is a huge struggle because he is a clumsy drunk. However, through the inebriation, it is the author’s father walking him to bed and not the author’s mother. This shows that through the inebriation the father still cares and is trying to be there for Roethke and be involved. The father is not perfect, but he is still trying by “waltzing me to bed” (Roethke, 91).

All in all, this is a beautiful piece of literature Roethke wrote. He told a story of how his whole life in one simple event that would happen each night. Roethke portrayed his father’s alcoholism, the stress among the family because of his father’s alcoholism, his father’s clumsiness, and that through all this, the father was still trying. These four main themes helped name this short poem “My Papa’s Waltz” because it truly was a dance full of up and downs to get Roethke to bed and to get him through life. 
