
Dancing in Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” not only creates its smooth dance like rhythm, but also the relationship between the people in the poem. Within the poem the son is recollecting a memory or memories he had with his father in the form of a dance, a child’s interpretation of how he was put to bed when his father was in a drunken state. The poem itself maintains a steady rhythm, with three beats per line, and a rhyme scheme that makes it flow like a dance. It also shows how the dance defines the relationship of the family itself when alcohol is involved, whether it be a fun family moment or an abusive household, both can express love, fear, and power. Dancing in “My Papa’s Waltz” creates a memory of a young boy being put to bed, makes the poem flow, and shows an emotional state within the family.

The son in the poem is recalling a childhood memory of his father coming home quite drunk which significantly impacted the son’s life. Intoxication is not something children are familiar with so the son describes the movement of his father as a dance. The son clearly cares about his dad because as they waltz he has to hold on with great difficulty. The way the father is moving is clumsy and violent, as a drunken person’s movements tend to be, and he states that is was not easy to keep up. “The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy”(Roethke 1-4). And it’s more like romping, which is a little more aggressive than dancing, so much that they're knocking pans off the counter and making a mess. The condition of the father is described as battered and dirty, and when he stumbles the sons head scrapes against his belt. And the father is placing his hand on the child’s head as they go off to bed. The son is having to help his father walk because he is too drunk to do so on his own, whether it has a playful aspect or a violent one the son merely describes it as a dance. This memory and situation left some sort of impact on the son’s memory of his father because this is how the son remembers him still, as a dance in which the son had to be apart of. 

The poem sounds and reads like what it is named after, a waltz. The poem is in the form of a dance itself. It has an ABAB rhyme scheme, every other line in the quatrains of the poem end with a rhyme which makes the poem sound pleasing. Not only does it rhyme but it also has its own rhythm. The poem is iambic, which means that a stressed syllable follows an unstressed syllable. Usually iambics have a five stressed syllables per line, but in “My Papa’s Waltz” there are three per line. Which is significant because it is actually beating along like a waltz does because there are also three beats in a waltz. The language and choice of words even correlate with dancing to create a waltz like feeling. “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf”, it describes their movements as romping and the knocking of the pans slid instead of outright falling, the way people slide in a dance (Roethke 5-6). The poem is what it is, an iambic trimeter and an ABAB rhyme scheme, it is a dance, more importantly it is a waltz.

The dance throughout this poem shows the relationship and the lifestyle of this family. Dance has many variants, and the waltz has been interpreted differently in countries around the world. This poem creates different situations about the family. It suggests a fun family moment filled with love in which a drunken father merrily plays with his son by romping around the kitchen stirring up a ruckus as the mother watches with a straight face. She’s not mad but content as she sees her boys horsing around before bedtime. A fun casual form of the waltz. It also suggests a depressed family torn apart by alcohol and fear. The alcoholic father is rough, almost violent towards his son as he comes home and the mother stands powerless in fear as she watches and doesn't say a word when her child is being  knocked around. A more stern strict version of the waltz. Just like how the dance can be defined and performed in different ways so can the relationship of this family in the poem. 

The symbol of dance, in this case the waltz, ties this poem together. Dance creates it’s structure and form, and also the story itself. The story of how a young boy had to deal with his father coming home, a dance in which significantly left an impact on the child because that is the way he still remembers it. Dancing is the easiest way for a boy to try and describe the situation. And what better way to describe his papa’s waltz than telling it in the form of a waltz as well. This technique allows the poem to flow, and more significantly incorporates the symbol of the dance even further. And the dance helps define the relationship of the family, and what is actually happening in this family. The poem expresses love, happiness, fear, and power through it’s different variants of the waltz, a more upbeat waltz, and a slower more strict waltz. Dance is very important in “My Papa’s Waltz” as it is what makes the poem, it is everywhere in this poem in many different forms, and it is a symbol in which many people can recognize and dance with its different aspects, but in the end you’re still dancing to it’s waltz.


  