Described as the best poet ever created in the United States by James Dickey, Theodore Roethke created many incredible poems, but none like “My Papas Waltz.” This poem describes the relationship between a playful drunk father and his young son. Although the poem appears to be about an alcoholic father who beats his child, this is not the case. Roethke uses negative, darker words in certain phrases to create what appears to be a negative poem when it really is not. The poem is often perceived differently by many critics due to the atmosphere created by Roethke. Roethke uses descriptive imagery, the manipulation of diction, and varying syntax to create an ambivalent tone which enables the multiple perceptions of this poem. 

Throughout the poem the diction is very important in how a reader perceives this poem. Roethke places words or phrases that can be interpreted as negative in certain places in the poem that creates that ambivalent tone to whether the story of this child is bad or good. Roethke uses phrases and words such as “the whiskey on your breath” (line 1) and “ but I hung on like death” (line 3) to  create that hostile atmosphere. In stanza two, the diction “My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself” (lines 7-8) constitutes this atmosphere of positivity where the audience believes it is boys vs girls. The son and father are just dancing but the mother does not approve. All throughout this poem a reader can observe a scene of abuse but Roethke intended this poem to be so ambivalent. According to Roethke, when he was making his draft of the poem he wanted to use the word “forehead” instead of “ right ear” but instead kept it at “right ear” to create this more positive tone of a child dancing with his father and not an actual Waltz.  On the contrary, Roethke replaced the word “kept” with “beat” giving it that gloomy tone. Only in the last stanza is the reader able to realize that the poem is truly a positive poem. In lines 13-16, the audience realizes that the father is just dancing drunkenly with his child who is both amused by his father’s behavior yet taken aback as well. The father drunkenly waltzes with his son and Roethke uses phrases such as “such waltzing was not easy” (line 4) and “then waltzed me off to bed” which helps enable the happier side to the poem. This poems serves to show the audience that not everything is what it appears to be.

Furthermore, the figurative speech and imagery in this poem serves to illustrate these illusions of abuse, yet with further analysis the reader is able to identify the true story. Roethke uses metaphors, alliterations, and similes to depict these scenes throughout the poem. The waltz is not an easy task for the child as Roethke mentions in line 3 “hung on like death” which overstatement.  An extended metaphor in this poem is the waltz itself. It represents the relationship between the father and the child which shows that was never an easy relationship, but there was always love. The father keeps messing up the dance and makes many mistakes. This is a metaphor for the father’s mistakes in real life and how alcohol made this father-son relationship hard. The most important image created by Roethke is when the kid is being hauled to bed as indicated when Roethke says “Then waltzed me off to bed, still clinging to your shirt” (line 15-16). This image shows that no matter how tough the waltz, the waltz being the relationship, the kid will always love his papa. 

Many poems will have different syntax structures which make them unique when displaying there stories. In the case of this poem Roethke uses short choppy sentences that create a rhyme scheme. This rhyme scheme is called iambic trimeter. This helps create the flow of this poem. This is also ironic because just like three beats, there are three steps in a waltz. The rhyme scheme adds fluidity to certain parts of the poem, but also can be short and choppy which represents the awkward struggle between the father and son’s relationship. It helps create that tension when the father walks in the house drunk, but also relieves this very tension by creating rhyme scheme and fluid sentences at the end of the poem. 

In brief, “My Papa’s Waltz” creates a setting and scene like no other. What appears to be an abusive father turns out to just be misunderstood one. The overall, bigger picture of this poem, is that love is a strong feeling, probably the strongest emotion in the world. It can protect people and also blind them. The child knows that he will always love his Papa. 
