
Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” relies upon dance in order to create not only its smooth dance like-rhythm, but also to develop the relationships between the main characters. The focal point of the poem is its portrayal of a son recollecting childhood memories of a father whom he both loves and fears. This childlike recounting is told in a way that parallels the movement and intensity of dance. The poem itself maintains a steady rhythm, with three beats per line, and a rhyme scheme that mimics the pulsing movement of dance. The waltz generates a metaphor for the relationship of the family—juxtaposing the good times and the bad— the light-hearted moments before bed with the fear instilled by a whiskey-breathed father. The dance, much like the relationship, can express love, fear, and power. Dancing in “My Papa’s Waltz” functions in such a way as to depict the memory of a young boy being put to bed, it gives the poem its lighthearted flow, and it expresses an emotional state within this complex father/son relationship.

The son is recalling a childhood memory of his father coming home quite drunk, an instance which significantly impacted the son’s life and led to his loss of innocence. Intoxication is not an occurrence with which children are familiar, and thus the son describes the movement of his father as a dance. The son’s love for his father is clearly characterized as he clings to his father with great difficulty, describing that “the whiskey on [his] breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But [he] hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke 1-4). 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 romping 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 son’s head scrapes against his belt. At this point in the poem, it is observed that his father is leading the dance, as the son follows each movement obediently. However, the roles show a reverse, as the son helps his father walk because he is too drunk to do so on his own. This aspect of the poem depicts a loss of innocence to a degree, and the poem’s tone begins to shift from one of childlike whimsy to one of a more serious and complex nature. This shift in tone allows the poem to mirror both the lightness and intensity present in dance. 

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; however, the iambics in “My Papa’s Waltz” follow three beats per line, rather than the usual five. This change in rhythm allows the poem itself to beat along like a waltz does, as there are also three beats in a waltz. The language and choice of words correlate with dancing to create a waltz like feeling. “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf”, 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, an iambic trimeter and an ABAB rhyme scheme, is literature and music, as it creates the very beat of dance for which it is named.

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 pleasurable 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. However, as the father leads his son up to bed, the interpretation and shift in tone also could allow one to interpret the dance with a much more intense lens—a dance in which a depressed family is 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 beaten and knocked around. Just as dance, literature, and art itself can be interpreted in many mediums, so can the relationship of this family. 

The symbol of dance, in this case the waltz, ties this poem together. Dance creates its 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. The dance takes the boy from innocence into a world of alcohol and complex relationships. By mimicking the waltz itself, the technique allows the poem to flow, and it more significantly incorporates the symbol of the dance even further. Through it’s different variants of the waltz, a more upbeat waltz, and a slower more strict waltz, the dance helps define the relationship of the family through expressing emotions, such as love, happiness, fear, and power.  The extended metaphor of dance portrayed in “My Papa’s Waltz”  it is what makes the poem; it is everywhere in this poem in many different forms, and it is a symbol in which many can recognize and dance with its different aspects. 


  