The way young children think is a beautiful thing. Their optimism towards everything is something most people lose as they age and become jaded to the reality.  When babies are born into the world they know nothing. The only things humans are born with are instincts, and hopefully, the ability to breath. As infants grow and mature, they learn and grow every day. Each day will present new challenges and learning opportunities for not just children, but everyone. Knowledge is power, as the cliché states, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. The less people know, the less they can be affected by. If a person does not watch the news they would not see a devastating news story about a school shooting or a natural disaster. Staying oblivious can make a person feel safer, and in some cases, it may be a good thing. Sometimes there are things people, more specifically young children, should never have to know. Horrible things endured in someone’s childhood can haunt them for the rest of their life and shape who they are, and not necessarily for the better.  “My Papa's Waltz” is from the perspective of a young boy who looks up to his very hard working father. The young boy details in the poem how his father would swing him around the kitchen, like a dance. This is no ordinary dance however, rather a violent outburst seen from the perspective of a boy who only wants to see the best in his Papa. In “My Papa's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the boy recounts the very negative memory of abuse he faced from the father he loves, as a dance through diction and imagery.

The first stanza contains several examples of diction that show the negative side of the boy's beloved father. The father is heavily intoxicated to begin with. The boy comments that the smell of alcohol on his breath was so strong it "could make a small boy dizzy,"(Roethke). The boy’s father is drunk when he comes home to see his son who just thinks the world of him. The boy wants to be with his dad, but his dad is drunk and abusive. The boy says he hangs on to him "like death," (Roethke) as they dance around the room. The phrase, like death, makes a very bold statement in the beginning of the poem that sets the tone for the rest. Comparing the phrases “hanging on like death” to “hanging on for dear life,” puts the whole interaction between the boy and his father into a very negative light, which then reveals the author's purpose in the poem.

In the second stanza, the imagery is far more prevalent and descriptive. The boy paints a picture of his surroundings while he and his father perform their dance. The boy talks about how he and his father “romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf,"(Roethke) as they were going around the room. The image that becomes very clear is of the boy’s father throwing him around the room like a rag doll. Without regard for his safety and well-being he continues to toss him and waltz around their kitchen. All the while, the boy describes his mother's expression not being able to "unfrown itself,"(Roethke). It causes the reader to wonder whether she cares, whether she herself is abused by the father, or whether she is a part of the entire ordeal. Either way, both lines immediately create a scene in readers' minds of the kitchen where they are doing their dance.

The third stanza alternates back to the diction like that of the first stanza. The boy describes his father holding his wrist with his hand that “was battered on one knuckle,” Roethke).  The use of the word battered is very powerful in this stanza because it emphasizes the father's strength and power over his helpless son. The father works hard and comes home drunk to his son who he likes to swing around the kitchen in an abusive manner. He talks about his father missing steps, causing the boy's "right ear [to scrape] a buckle." The father is most likely missing steps because he is intoxicated to the point of losing his balance while “waltzing” with his son. Talking about the boy's ear scraping a buckle is both simple and graphic at the same time. The phrase is both ambiguous and very explanatory at the same time. This stanza is very telling to the abuse the boy is facing in this poem.

The fourth stanza reverts again to the heavier use of imagery in the words. The boy describes time being beaten "on [his] head," from his father's weathered hand “caked hard by dirt,” (Roethke). A reader can picture a "palm caked by dirt," beating a child over the head in a kitchen with pans on the floor. It paints a very graphic image of the scene that is occurring in the young boy’s kitchen. Pans on the floor, dirt from his father’s hands, the mother frowning, and the smell of whiskey from the father can make a very vivid image in a reader’s mind. The boy recounts being waltzed off to bed, "clinging to [his father’s] shirt," (Roethke). This stanza is what contains the most power and emotion of all four stanzas. The boy clings to his father as he takes him to bed after abusing him in their kitchen. The reader can imagine the scene happening in any family’s home. 

The boy loves his father dearly and participates in this waltz of his father over powering and abusing him, but being the young child he is, he sees it not as abuse but as this dance he describes as a waltz. The sad reality of domestic abuse is a very difficult one, and not one that children should ever have to experience or be the victims of. This young boy just loves his father and wants to spend time with him no matter how that is. The father is a drunk who works hard and comes home and abuses his son who looks up to him even after what he does to him. It is a sad story, and one that happens all too often in the world. If only his father wouldn’t drink, or his mother would save him, maybe things could be different for all of them.
