Alexis Muttillo

Professor Smith

English 101

9 September 2016

Theodore Roethke “My Papa’s Waltz”

Could you ever imagine growing up in a household where you lived in constant fear of your parents abusing you? Well for Theodore Roethke, the author of “My Papa’s Waltz,” this unthinkable act is an everyday reality. The inspiration for this poem came from the author’s father who passed away from cancer when Roethke was just a teenager. Throughout this poem, the reader gains an insight as to what Theodore Roethke had to grow up with, and also how one can love but fear their parent at the same time. 

Within the poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” author Theodore Roethke displays multiple memories regarding his father, yet through all the stories, he portrays his father in both positive and negative ways. Although everyone has some kind of ambivalent feelings about their parents, Roethke seems to have stronger feelings than most, and the poem holds some of the answers. Roethke hits the reader right from the start with the verses “The whiskey on your breath/ Could make a young boy dizzy” (90; lines 1-2). With that statement, it leads the reader into assuming that Roethke had an alcoholic father which would push some people to believe that growing up Roethke really didn’t have a father figure. The verse “We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf” (91; lines 5-6) might also play in with that argument because it could be taken in the view that while in the kitchen his father was being physical with him, even to the point of them knocking pans off the shelves.

Even though most of the memories Roethke brings up seem negative, many of the lines contain feelings that coexist depending on the interpretation. For example, the line about the pans falling from the shelves could be read as it was above, or maybe it reads differently. The text could also depict Roethke and his father playing around and having so much with each other that pans were literally falling off the shelf.  Another example of coexisting meaning would be verses “The hand that held my wrist/ Was battered on one knuckle” (91; lines 9-10) which is how Roethke described his father’s hand while they were dancing, and along with that he also talked about how his father’s hands were “caked hard by dirt” (91; line 14). In Roethke stating these things about his father, the reader is brought to question why he mentioned this twice throughout the poem. Through interpretation, the conclusion that might be assumed was that his father was just a dirty human being and a fighter due to being an alcoholic. However, the real meaning behind these facts of Roethke’s fathers dirty, busted up hands may be that he worked extremely hard in order to provide for his family.

Further along in the poem Roethke explains “At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle” (91; lines 11-12). Reading this verse, it can come off two different ways: either with his father messing up the dance Theodore ran into him or even though his father was the one who messed up Theodore was the one who was punished. Along with the verse above Roethke wrote “You beat time on my head” (91; line 13) which again could come out with two totally different meanings. The first being that they were dancing, so in order to keep time his father tapped him on the head or it could be read deeper with the meaning that his father was abusing him. Therefore, depending on how the reader interprets and analyzes the text will ultimately decide how Roethke’s father gets viewed.

Continuing on with the idea of coexisting meaning, Roethke stated “But I hung on like death:/ Such waltzing was not easy.” (90; lines 3-4) The first meaning would be since they were obviously dancing that he was just exaggerating how tight he had to hold on in order to keep up with his father. However, since the reader is aware of the passing of Roethke’s father at a young age, they are able to also interpret that possibly the meaning was in fact deeper. Perhaps it was that he was holding on so tight because he didn’t want to face the inevitable fact of his father’s death. That meaning also shines through later in the work when he states that his father “waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt.” (91; lines 15-16)

In the end, Roethke’s story can be depicted in numerous ways. Many people will choose to see only positive things about his father while others will only see bad. Through everything that occurred in Theodore Roethke’s relationship with his father whether it was a positive memory or not so much, his father is still his father and at the end of the day everyone loves and respects their parents which shines through sometimes in the darkest moments including death.

Works Cited

Roethke, Theodore. “My Papa’s Waltz.” From The Carolina Reader for English 101. USC Columbia Department of English, 2016.