
In Theodore Roethke’s poem, My Papa’s Waltz, Roethke uses figurative language to indirectly, but not-so-subtly, suggest an underlying theme. Throughout the poem, there are clues to indicate that the theme is domestic abuse. It appears to be that the father in the poem comes home intoxicated and inadvertently mistreats the narrator. However, the poem is an extended metaphor, comparing the event to a dance, specifically the waltz. The poem is written in four stanzas and each has hints of its own, some more obvious than others, so support the theme of this parental abuse through an extended metaphor of dance.

In the first stanza, the narrator introduces the father’s intoxication and the metaphor of the waltz. In very first line the narrator states that the father has “whiskey on [his] breath”. This not a symbol, or figurative language, it simply just depicts that the father had come home drunk. This is important to note, however, because drinking is a common cause of domestic violence. The narrator then goes on to say that they “hung on like death” to their father. If the child must hang for as tightly as they suggest, then the father is clearly being too rough and moving to harshly with his child. In the last line of the stanza, the narrator introduces the metaphor of dancing, when they said that “such waltzing was not easy”.  This suggest that way the father is dragging his child around the room is like a dance, but not a gentle one. This brutal “dance” reinforces the theme of abuse.

The second stanza continues the description of the rough housing as well as introducing the narrator’s mother and her position during the event. The poem continues to suggest playful harm when they “romped until the pans fell from the kitchen shelf”, and this also provides more information about the ferocity that the father heaved the child around. This implies that the father was ramming himself and/or the narrator into walls or furniture, and rough enough to actually removed items from shelves. When the mother is included, the narrator mentions that her face “could not unfrown itself”, but no intervention by the mother. So, she stands by, clearly disapproving of the incident unfolding in front of her, which implies again that it is more than just a dance.

The next stanza describes the bruises and scrapes on the both the father and the child. In the poem, the father’s “hand that held [his] wrist was battered on one knuckle”. This suggests that the father had either hit something or hit someone, just another part of drinking to the point of intoxication. And holding onto his child’s wrist only supports the theme even more, that the child is being abused and swung around. The dance only got more brutal with “every step [the father] missed”. The father, being drunk, had trouble walking, and this resulted in the narrator’s “right ear scrap[ing] a buckle” on the father’s belt. The child is young and short enough to have their ear at the height of the father’s belt, which means that they’re easily moved and thrashed.

 The final stanza makes more comparisons between the father’s physical abuse and a dance, and also provides more about the father prior to coming home. The father “beat time on [his] head” while moving about the room. This has a double meaning; it means both that he was keeping the time of their “dance”, but also hitting is child on top of their head. It brings in the fact that not only is the father aggressively dragging the narrator around, but is actually physically striking the child. It also mentions that the father’s palm is ‘caked hard by dirt”, which implies that before returning home, the father could have been doing one of few things. He could have been working a job that requires physical and unsanitary labor, which could explain his drive to drink. But it could also be just that he had been on the ground for whatever drunken scenario that he found himself in, possibly the very same situation that he acquired his battered knuckle in. So, he comes home drunk and beaten and takes it out on his kid. Finally, the father “waltzed [the kid] off to bed”, which suggests they moved just as they did before, only this time he was dragged to bed. While being hauled to bed, the narrator was “still clinging to [the father’s] shirt”, that they would not be thrown away from the rampaging father. The narrator had to hang on for their own safety, but still took a beating regardless.

The father in the poem comes home in a, what is suggested to be routine, riot, and takes his frustration out on his kid. The metaphor of the waltz provides better imagery of how the father is lugging his child around. The imagery of the father’s appearance and the child’s perspective also help to better support the theme of abuse, and how it is not actually playful, but rather harmful. 