
It is impossible to change the past, yet anyone has the capability to gain a new perspective once an experience has come and gone. This basically means, a person is able to change their mind or formulate a new opinion after time has passed. This idea is showed throughout the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke (Roethke 90). Throughout the poem, Roethke describes his childhood and the memory of his father. The reader can tell as a child, Roethke truly admired his father, but as an adult realized the man Roethke once looked up to, spent years abusing his mother (Roethke 91).

Roethke wrote, “My Papa’s Waltz” in 1948 and recalls the memory of his father between the years of 1912-1916, when he was a child small enough to stand on his father’s feet as he stumbled around the kitchen (Roethke 91). Throughout the poem, the author manages to show different perspectives of his father through his word choice. Roethke manages to show his point of view as a child toward his father, who he loves, while also showing the father’s abusive tendencies.

The first half of the poem seems to show the point of view of Roethke’s childhood opinions. The author describes how happily danced around the kitchen with his drunken father (Roethke 90). Roethke’s perspective in this part of the poem shows how ignorance is bliss. For instance, as a child, Roethke was completely unaware of the abuse occurring in his own home by his father (Roethke 90). Toward the second half of the poem, the author then shows a different perspective. Roethke states, “My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself,” (Roethke 91). This line shows the mother’s own view on this “happy” scene, and gives the reader a glance into the mother’s feelings about her son’s close proximity to her drunken, abusive husband. It’s apparent the mother wasn’t able to smile at the father and son, even for her son’s benefit, as her resentment for the father was too strong. This displays what Roethke hadn’t seen at the time; the father’s abuse toward his mother.

In the next stanza, the story seems to unfold more, and provide more insight to the father’s true personality. The author writes, “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle,” (Roethke 91). The two references to abuse in this stanza are obviously, “held my wrist” and “battered on one knuckle,”(Roethke 91). Most fathers might hold their son’s hands, but Roethke’s father grabs his wrist; a much more threatening action. When Roethke refers to his father holding his wrist, it clearly displays how his father took aggressive action upon his mother and himself.  This clear aggressiveness truly proves how even when his father is drunken and incapable of functioning properly, he still reverts to his natural tendencies of assault and aggression. Furthermore, Roethke’s observation of his father’s injury on his knuckles, are a reference to his father’s aggression (Roethke 91). Roethke doesn’t specifically write from what or who his father has been getting minor injuries from, but by recalling the mother’s countenance and frowning glares, the reader can presume that Roethke’s mother is on the other end of his father’s battered fists.

Further in the third stanza, Theodore writes, “My right ear scraped a buckle,” (Roethke 91). This line doesn’t only present the young age of the author by referring to his height, but also infers that the father may use more than just his battered knuckle to physically abuse Roethke’s mother. Many people tend to picture and belt or weapon when thinking of abuse. This statement about Roethke’s ear scrapping his father’s belt buckle shadows his father’s abuse even in this happy moment that Roethke remember many years later. It can be understood that the author may remember this memory in more than just a happy manner, but also an ironic manor, as he didn’t understand the situation his mother was in at the time.

Towards the end of the poem, in the fourth stanza, the author made many references to his father’s abuse by more directly stating, “You beat time on my head,” (Roethke 91). In this sentence two words stand out; “beat” and “time”. By utilizing the word “beat” in this sentence, the reader is able to pull out yet another inference to the father’s abuse towards his own wife; Roethke’s mother. In this stanza, the author chooses an impetuous word in order to directly impact the reader and make a main idea quite plain. On a different note, the word “time” refers to the irony of author not understanding the situation his loving mother had to endure during his childhood (Roethke 91). This makes clear how after many years, Roethke finally understood what his mother went through and how he now recalls this previously called happy memory in a much different light. As a child, the author was obviously too young and too late to stop the father’s abuse. It is unfortunate the reader is never able to find out what ever happened to Roethke’s mother after all the abuse she endured. This may be a partial reason the author wrote “My Papa’s Waltz.” One could infer that Roethke needed to rid himself of the guilt of doing nothing and make peace with himself in understanding the situation he was oblivious to at such a young child. 

Throughout the poem, the father is not always portrayed as a villain and can actually be viewed as a hard-working father in some ways. He does dance with his son and his son appears to love and admire his father. The author also states, “With a palm caked hard by dirt,” showing that the father works diligently to provide for the family (Roethke 91). Even with many positive attributes, it seems that the author tries to make the poem have a happy feeling with a gloomy shadow as that is the way he recalls the memory.

Roethke references abuse throughout his poem as a way to show his father’s true personality without specifically stating that his father beats his mother. The author does this so he can show both his present and past views on this memory and his father. Roethke only references the abuse of his father because he only remembers it as a gloomy overcast on this sunny memory. After Roethke becomes an adult the reader understands that Roethke fully comprehends his father’s aggression and his own blissful ignorance toward the situation that his mother was in. Roethke successfully portrayed his feeling as a child and the way he later felt about the true situation he and his mother endured, all wrapped into one neat poem.     
