
When you first read the title, “My Papa’s Waltz” you would think that the poem would be about a child dancing with his Papa. That is not the case. It describes a man reminiscing on his childhood. Some people see it the poem as describing abuse and some see it as a happy memory of a son dancing with his father. My Papa’s Waltz is a poem that tells a story of a father and son relationship. Despite the impression of abuse, the son still has unconditional love for his father by using symbols, smiles, word choice, and imagery. 

There are two main symbols in this poem that show the father and son relationship. The first one is waltzing. Waltzing is stated, “Such waltzing was not easy.” The waltzing was not easy for the boy, meaning the boy and his father’s relationship was not an easy relationship. Then we find out the waltzing was actually “romping” (line 5). It could suggest playing around, but remember he said the waltzing was not easy. The father then kept missing steps, perhaps hurting the son (line 11). This could represent the father’s mistakes in his life which hurt his son in physical and nonphysical way. The second symbol is violence. The text states “The whiskey on your breath”, which is not violent, but it means that the Papa is drunk and that could lead to violence. The father holds the son’s wrist, which “Was battered on one knuckle” and could be a sign of violence. The father and son continue dancing and in line 12, “My right ear scraped a buckle”. The father does not realize he is being violent but he is hurting his son, it is just his belt buckled scraping the son’s ear. The belt also symbolizes abuse since belts have been used for beating children.  The son is probably too afraid to speak up because he loves spending time with his father. He uses the word “battered” and “beat” which implies the father being violent. 

Roethke uses a simile in this poem to describe the father-son relationship. The simile in line three, “But I hung on like death” shows the sons dependency on his father. The line also could be taken has fear, in two lines before, “The whiskey on your breath” the son could be afraid of his father because of the use of alcohol.

Theodore Roethke starts out with a contradictory tone. His word choice shows mixed emotions for his Papa. For example, “death” and “waltzing” in the first stanza. The imagery of waltzing with his Papa shows the closeness they have, but “death” showing the fear he has of his father. Roethke also uses “battered” and “scraped” in stanza three to show the fear of the young boy. The father has “whiskey on his breath to make a small boy dizzy.” (line1-2). This suggests that the father is drunk. It is implied again by the fact that the father cannot dance very well, “At every step you missed” and “My right ear scraped a buckle” (lines 11-12). Another reason the son could be clinging to his father is because he may not see him often. In line 15, “With a palm caked by dirt” meaning that his father most likely worked outside. 

My Papa’s Waltz shows that as we get older, we see the imperfections in the way we have been raised, but also the love we have for our parents no matter what. Despite the roughness of the father he still clings to his shirts, this is how much he valued the time he had with his father. The use of symbols, word choice, and imagery by Roethke has described the boys unconditional love for his imperfect father. 
