After reading “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, I imagined a scene of a father and son playfully dancing after dinner. Ensuing the class discussion and close reading, my original thoughts were altered. I still see the idea of waltzing showing the positive parts of the father and son’s relationship. However, I noticed the repetition of words that are all related to abuse which made me question the real subject matter of “My Papa’s Waltz.” I no longer associated the poem with a happy theme. There are a few lines that display the boy’s forgiveness of his father. If the poem was about a favorable father-son relationship, there would be no need for forgiveness. This small detail helped open my eyes to the theme. After analyzation, I decided the theme that fit this poem was forgive those you love even when they hurt you. The repetitive words associated with mistreatment show that the father abuses the boy but the few lines showing forgiveness show the boy still loves his father. When we look in depth at “My Papa’s Waltz,” we can see that it is talking about an abusive father-son relationship, which is what most people do not see. This is important because it gives a more sensitive meaning to the poem than if it was just about a boy and his father playfully dancing. 

People have many different ideas about the meaning of this poem. Two common interpretations people associate with “My Papa’s Waltz” are a father and son playfully dancing or an alcoholic abusive father hurting his son. I see this poem as a man looking back on his childhood with an abusive, alcoholic father. However, I do not see the man completely resenting his father. I anticipate the main idea of waltzing represents the good part of the father and son’s kinship which contributes to the theme that you forgive those you love. Although the father was abusive, there were still good parts of the boy’s life that he remembers with his dad. The boy, narrator in the poem, expressed “Then waltzed me off to bed” (Roethke 15). Basically the boy is remembering a positive memory he had with his father, being put to bed. This shows the father was not always unbearable and the boy had positive memories with his dad which were represented by waltzing. This idea contributes to the theme of forgiving those you love even when they hurt you because it shows the love the boy has for his dad which is why he is so forgiving. While the boy is forgiving he is not blind to the fact that his father is abusive and hurts him.

Although the boy loves his father, he cannot cover up the abuse he experiences. As a result of class discussion and a close reading of this poem, I noticed the repetition of words that correspond with abuse. “Romped,” “battered,” “scraped,” and “beat” are all used in the poem to describe the abuse from the father. The poem would contain more subdued words and more words to promote a positive, happy relationship if it was about a playful waltz between a father and son. These harsh words contribute to the theme by giving insight on the boy’s mistreatment which explains the need for forgiveness. Another part of the poem that demonstrates the abuse the boy takes from his father is “The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke 1-2). The part with the whiskey was added to let the reader know the father was an alcoholic. In simple terms the definition of dizzy is spinning and losing one’s balance. This shows that the alcoholic dad literally made the boy lose his balance by hitting him and knocking him over. The boy knows the alcohol is what makes his father abusive which is why he is forgiving. He knows his sober father would never hurt him and that the alcohol is what makes his dad abusive. This contributes to the theme of forgiving the ones you love even when they hurt you because it is very clear that the boy is hurt by his father, but the boy makes excuses and forgives him. Not only does the boy forgive his father because he knows the alcohol is what makes him abusive, another reason is simply because he loves him.

Real love is eternal. That bold statement helps explain the theme of “My Papa’s Waltz” because even if the one you love puts you through so much pain, you can never stop loving them. It is hard to break away from someone you love especially when it is family. As a child, the boy in the poem probably had nowhere to go to escape his father and the abuse. This is likely another reason the boy forgives his father after he was mistreated so many times. Not only does the boy love his father and know the abuse is coming from the alcohol, he also cannot break free because he has nowhere to go. He loves his dad because of all of the waltzing, or good parts of their relationship. Due to this, the boy looks past the bad parts of the relationship, the abuse, and forgives his father. One example from the poem that shows the boy’s forgiveness is, “Still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke 16). In other words, the boy is still holding on at the very end of the poem after all of the abuse has occurred. At this point in the poem, the very last line, it is already clear the boy is mistreated due to the repetition of abusive words. The boy is beaten and battered and romped but in the end he still clings on to his dad. After everything the boy is still “clinging” to his father, loving and forgiving him. This contributes to the theme that people forgive the ones they love no matter how much they hurt them. No matter what loved ones do to you, you always run back. It is not because you are needy or insufficient alone, it is because real love is eternal. The boy clutching to his father even after the abuse demonstrates the theme of forgiving the ones you love even if they hurt you.

After close reading and discussion of “My Papa’s Waltz,” my ideas on the poem changed. When I originally read the poem, I imagined a very specific scene. I saw a father and son in the kitchen dancing and a mother figure trying to make dinner. Due to the descriptive language in the poem I visualized her getting frustrated that they were making too much noise. When I read this poem the first time, I pictured this particular scene because I was not paying attention to the small details put forth. Once I examined this poem and heard other people’s thoughts and feelings on it, I could clearly see the underlying meaning. First of all, the word choice of the author was very important in interpreting this poem. All of the words relating to abuse gives one insight to how the father mistreats his son. A different word is chosen to represent the opposite of the abuse. Waltzing, a fun form of dance, is used in the poem to represent the positive side of their relationship. That is one of the reasons that the boy loves his dad no matter how much he is hurt or abused. The boy always looks back on the positive memories and uses those as an excuse to forgive. Another reason the boy is so forgiving of his father is because he knows the alcohol is what makes his father act like this. The boy knows his sober dad would never hurt him so he blames the abuse on the alcohol, not his father. The word choice in the poem shows the reader the boy is abused, the repetitive idea of waltzing shows the boy still has positive memories of his father, and the boy’s forgiveness of his father brings together the theme. People are forgiving to those they love no matter how bad the ones they love hurt them.
