Theodore Roethke in writing “My Papa’s Waltz” details a part of his childhood by describing the complex relationship between himself and his father. It was a relationship filled with many difficult times for Roethke, and that probably left Roethke confused about the relationship but, this was his father and he did learn to accept this through his life. My Papa’s Waltz uses the combination of negative words and loving words with a negative connotation to show that there was an abusive relationship between father and son in order to argue that there are two ways to look at the piece, one being that people deserve love despite their mistakes and that time heals wounds.

The first few lines of “My Papa’s Waltz” contains a lot of negative words, or at least words with a negative connotation, words like death, battered, scraped, and beat (90-91). This made the clear point that this was a negative poem, that it was about something that was not a happy subject and the author wants the reader to know that right from the start. But then the author will incorporate phrases that do not go along with the negativity like, “But I hung on like death:” (90) meaning that despite the problems, the author continued to love his father. It’s like when two people get married and in their vows say that they will be together until death parts them, so the author hung on like death, where only death will part him and his father. This theme of love is continued again at the end of the poem when the author says, “Still clinging to your shirt,” (91). It paints the picture that even though the author faces all this abuse, he cannot pull away from his father, he still loves him. Even in the title there is evidence of the love the author has for his father. If the author hated his father for the abuse still to this day, then he would not have referred to him as Papa. A nickname for a parent like Papa shows that the relationship father and son share is very personal and very special. If the author still though ill of his father then he would refer to him as something more formal like Father or even just call his father by his first name.

The second stanza offers up multiple meanings. Going along with the negative theme, the author’s father is abusive to the point that the kitchen pans are falling and it leaves the author’s mother in shock and horror and leaves her with a frown that she cannot take away because she was scared and ashamed of her husband. However, it also means that the author’s father and the author played together, given that there is that sense of love in the poem, and they played until the pans fell and it made the author’s mother sad or angry that her kitchen was a mess, so she had a frown on her face. The word “romped” (91) leaves this effect. It means rough play, but that definition is a little vague. Is that rough play an exciting and fun activity for the author and his father or is an abusive, sad act that saddens everyone who sees it happening? In the context of the poem, it leaves a negative feeling; from this stanza alone it is apparent that the mother is shocked by the behavior of her husband and son and from the poem as a whole there are more negative words like beat and battered (91). This stanza is describing a time where the abuse was so bad that it tore the kitchen apart. This again adds to the negative feeling the poem, and it details even further that this is not a happy poem.

From this word choice, the meaning of the poem is that the author is victim of an abusive relationship between him and his father. There are times where the author’s father will hurt the author and beat him when something bad happens. The hurt the author feels is evident from the line, “You beat time on my head” (91), meaning that because of the abuse, the author was forced to grow up quick and therefore making his childhood a short and grim one. However, despite this the author still loves his father. This love may not have necessarily been present when this abuse was happening, since the poem is in past tense, but it is there now. The last line of the poem, “Still clinging to your shirt” (91) also implies that the author still loves his father and still hangs on to the unconditional love the two have for each other. Time may have healed some wounds for the author and opened his eyes to the fact that this was his father, and that you only get one in your life. 

In using the word waltz in the title of the poem, the author is trying to make this abusive situation less depressing. But he also does this because the poem is like a waltz. When the poem is read, it is read to the beat of a slow dance. The use of a semi colon after the second line of each stanza and a period at the end of the stanza gives the reader the structure to read the poem in this way. The poem also has a pretty consistent rhyme scheme of ABAB throughout, which is still adhering to that slow dance theme of the poem. A waltz in particular is the same over and over, and to keep with that the author chose a rhyme scheme that is consistent over and over. This goes along with the love theme in the poem. The author would not still make this abusive relationship out to be a beautiful dance if the author did not love his father. It is also a powerful poem that tells an intense story and the waltz is also a special dance that works perfectly with the poem in order to describe the special relationship the father and son have. The poem is written like the author is telling a story, an elaborate and maybe even a somewhat vague story, but this story is not directed at any one person either. The author is sharing an occurrence in his life with whoever will take the time and read. 

This poem gives two good lesson to those who read it, and in turn two ways of looking at the piece. First that despite the mistakes some people make, that they still deserve love no matter what has happened. When the author was a child, he knew the abuse was a bad thing but once the moments of abuse were over, there were also moments of love and that was all the author knew in his life. He knew it was not right, and he maybe hated his father for this confusing mixture of polar opposite behaviors, but the author still loved his father, and that was something that would not change. The second lesson the poem gives is that time can heal all wounds. In the poem, there is that definite sense of hatred from the negative words and anyone can see it. But the poem is written in the past tense and that is how the love shines through in the poem. It also shines through from the last line of the poem, “Still clinging to your shirt” (91) showing that the love is still there even though the author is no longer a child. Time has healed the pain of the author’s childhood and that has allowed him to feel love for his father again.
