

In My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke, the narrator uses diction, imagery, and metaphor to convince both himself and the reader that his father’s drunken actions toward him are not actually abusive but playful and lighthearted in the form of a waltz. This thought process of self-deception is enlightening, to the reader, of the narrator’s attempt to not taint the memory of his father and paint it for what it really was-abusive. 

Roethke’s title My Papa’s Waltz forms a solid understanding by the reader that the narrator, presumably a child, has a close relationship with his father. The intimacy of “Papa” (Roethke) instead of “Father” creates a sense of closeness or desired closeness with the parent. The closeness of the father and child have a break in line nine when the language changes from addressing the father to addressing the hand as an object that is personified. “The hand that held my wrist” (Roethke 9) and not “holding my hand” which would be a sign of love, is a key change that allows the reader to think that the narrator wants to separate the physical side of his father from his interpretation of his father as a whole. In doing so, the narrator does not connect the abuse to his father. Roethke uses words such as “But I hung on like death” (3), “battered” (10), “scraped” (12), and “beat” (13) to give an unmistakably negative connotation to the poem, thus denying the ability of this poem to only be about dancing. 

While the main picture interpreted is a visual of a father and son waltzing around, but that playful image is competing with those of a darker struggle. “The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2 Roethke) shows the massive quantity of alcohol consumption; enough alcohol to give a small child a slight buzz. “Such waltzing was not easy.” (3 Roethke) The action of being flung around, being compared to a waltz, was difficult to keep up with or stay balanced. An image of a mother that could not stop frowning might lead the reader to infer that she refused to help the boy for fear of the drunken husband and father hurting the boy more severely or hurting her (Roethke 7-8). “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt” (Roethke 13-14) gives an image of a callous and dirty hand that so frequently beats the child’s head to the point of the victim comparing it to keeping tempo like in a song. In the final two lines, Roethke still “clings” (Roethke) to the abuser’s shirt in a way that an abused dog would still try to cling to his master in hopes of trying to please him more. This action by the child conveys a sense of confusion as to why the abuse is happening as well as him trying to soothe their relationship.  

The relationship between the two was “not easy”(4 Roethke) and at times very frightening for the child. In line four, the narrator tells the reader “Such waltzing was not easy.” meaning that balancing the abusive side of their relationship with the loving side is hard to keep up with. Therefore, the narrator “hung on like death” leading the reader to infer that he had no control over the dance or the relationship. The father “missed steps” (11 Roethke) but was in control of what direction the dance went so it did not matter that he messed up by beating the son. Evidence of the father solely having control over their relationship is in line nine where it is stated that the father is holding his son’s wrist (9 Roethke). The father does not guide, lovingly, his child by holding his hand. Instead, by holding on to the child’s wrist, he is forcing the child around at his discretion, rendering the child powerless in the metaphor for their relationship.

Theodore Roethke uses simple but selective diction, vivid imagery and intellectually conscious metaphors that drive the very short, simple words that present a very deep and complex story under the childlike rouse of as simple a thing as a four step dance. While reading the poem, knowing that it is a waltz and not any other dance that may have a different number of steps or something to that effect, brings together the visual of it truly being graceful and structured. People do not flounce about or laugh and cut up whilst waltzing. It is a very strict and structured way of dancing and that represents the controlling relationship that is between the father figure and the narrator. 
