
In the short yet controversial poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, there is much confusion about what the true meaning behind the poem actually is. Some people think it is just a sweet memory a father and son share while others think it is about a young boy and his love for his drunken, abusive father. The poem could be taken either way depending on the person and their background knowledge, but I see it as a particular memory the two share. After researching the author, it is quite obvious that this poem is nothing more than a special memory Theodore Roethke shared with his father before his passing. It is portrayed as a child’s remembrance of his not-so-perfect, but loving father and reflecting on one specific memory they shared together and will treasure. Literary elements like diction, form, and imagery used in this poem are key factors in proving that the boy in the poem loves his father, and the non-abusive father loves his son.

Without having any previous background knowledge on the author, I might have had a different view on what Roethke was trying to reveal to his readers in this poem. The diction he uses to describe the father sounded harsh at times and made him sound like a bad person almost. It made me think this could be a little too violent or scary for a young boy to encounter, but after doing research on the author, my thoughts about the father changed immediately. Theodore Roethke was known for writing about his life and previous experiences. Most all of the other pieces of writing he has done do not have any violence in them and are genuinely happy memories or experiences when talking about his family or father. His father died when he was only fourteen years old, molding the person and writer he would become later on.

In the very beginning of the poem, the first few lines were questionable when trying to decipher what the meaning was. Roethke writes, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy…” Breaking down this line, the readers are going to automatically have a negative feeling towards whoever this person might be. Introducing someone while talking about how the whiskey on their breath could knock a child out is not a positive thing. From this very first line is where some readers are already convinced that the person being introduced is going to be a “bad guy”. They already have that mind set so it will be hard for them to think any different throughout the poem. Even though some may feel differently, the way Roethke states this line is the way that the young boy remembers his father. He did not put that line in there for the negative connotation, but just purely stating the fact of how the son remembers his father in this specific memory. Nobody knows the background of the father. He might possibly be an alcoholic, or he might have just had a bad day at work. The possibilities are endless. Roethke does not write in the poem anywhere else about alcohol being a common or regular thing. The line continues to say “… but I hung on like death.” Another negative word choice. Roethke put that ironic simile in the poem for a reason. I believe he used that phrasing because of his father dying at such a young age. The little boy hung on and never wanted to let go both in the poem and in reality. This could also give the readers the wrong idea or thought just because the word death and happiness never go together. 

The second stanza talks about how the father and son were dancing around the kitchen so wildly that pots and pans began to fall and the mother was not amused. Throughout this poem, Roethke uses much imagery to paint pictures of the events playing out. The second stanza is a perfect example of this. The third stanza though, is where it gets complicated again. “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle…” Because of the word choice and set up used in this line, readers will immediately wonder why the father has battered knuckles. They will assume the worst just because of the previous lines using the words “whiskey, death, battered” all to describe the father in some way or another. The father held the boys’ wrist because the sons’ hands were probably too small to hold or keep hold of while they danced and played around in the kitchen. It is hard to say why his knuckle was beat up, just like it is hard to say why the father had too much to drink in the beginning. The next line, “At every step you missed, my right ear scraped a buckle.” Is describing how the son and father were dancing. Obviously, the father was not fully capable of balancing from the whiskey and young boy clinging on to him which is why he would miss a few steps. The boy would scrap his ear on either his father’s belt or pants buckle since he probably came up to about that height on him. Roethke uses these particular words to give the reader something more to think about. The poem can be debatable, but the whole point of writing is to keep the audience guessing and let them infer what the meaning to a text might or might not be.

The last stanza, Roethke uses the phrase “You beat time on my head…” which can cause some controversy to those who may not know fully what this sentence is saying. In music terms, time is talking about how many beats are in a measure. It is referring to the rhythm the son and father were either listening to, singing, humming, etc. They were dancing a waltz so there had to be some sort of music involved. Some people take that sentence as a literal beating to the sons’ head which is not the case. Roethke ends the poem by reflecting and tying the whole poem back together saying, “Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.” 

The structure of the poem is set up very balanced with four stanzas and four lines in each stanza. It has a rhyme scheme ABAB which makes the poem easier to read for the readers. Most lines in each stanza have about six or seven syllables which also makes the poem easier to read but also flow much smoother, almost like a waltz. Roethke uses many rhetorical devices to explain the meaning behind the text to readers. The title of the poem is “My Papa’s Waltz” which shows a loving, personal relationship between the two. Roethke could have easily used the word “father”, but instead he gave the title a more relational sense to show his feelings towards his “papa”. He also uses the word “waltz” in the title to describe the dance they were doing in the kitchen. The Waltz is a partnered dance where the couple constantly does turns all around. Like pointed out before, Roethke could have used a different word to describe what him and his father were doing that night. This whole poem was based off of a memory that Theodore Roethke remembered of his father and would continue to cherish it for as long as he lived.
