Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” provides a unique perspective on love, specifically unconditional love. Unconditional love is when a love is shared from one person to another without any ends, that no matter what a person does they will always be loved. Roethke provides a point of view that is not commonly told, the view of a child. Children’s views of their parents may change as they grow, but at a very young age children will love their parents no matter what. A child may be hurt physically or mentally by a parent, but they still desire that connection and will want to keep it. “My Papa’s Waltz” explores the idea of unconditional love amongst family members, by contrasting the subjective child’s view of an abusive parent with the objective external view of the parent through Roethke’s word choice.

On the surface the poem tells the story of a child growing up and playing with their father. This can be seen, by the way the child talks about the father. The child talks about waltzing in lines 3 and 4 when he says “But I hung on like death: -Such waltzing was not easy.” The child recalls dancing with his father. The word waltzing gives a positive connotation, it causes the reader to remember times when they waltzed or danced. Making the reader feel the words of the child is Roethke most powerful tool in describing the love between the father and child. There is a positive relationship between them. The child also mentioned that they romped, which is a synonym for playing.  In line 5 he says “We romped until the pans-slid” to talk about playing with the father. Again this word’s connotation gives a good feeling; the reader is in touch with memories of them playing with their father, or siblings, which strengthens the understanding of this love. It is a rough play, the kind that someone would do with a person that they trust and are very close to. So far both of these examples express a physical playfulness between the father and the child, which portrays strong and close emotional bond. On line 13 the child says that the father “beat time on my head.” This is a playful action; the father is tapping on the child like a drum. Just like with the waltz, a feeling of music goes along with a positive feeling. The music can stir up memories to the reader about calm or happy moments where they listened to music, memories that may not directly relate to this story but still further the feeling of love and comfort. On the surface the story is a happy one about a father and a child who play together and dance together.

However, it was not all good for the child. Following the theme of unconditional love, the child never states it out right, but because of Roethke’s word choice it can be implied that something bad is happening between the father and child. In lines 5 and 6 the child says, “We romped until the pans - slid from the kitchen shelf”, while it could be read as happy memory, there is something darker underneath. Despite having a fun meaning, romped also has a harsh connotation to it, especially with line 6 added in. The pans sliding from the shelf shows that it is not a gentle game between the father and child, but something rougher. The father is tough with the child; the father might not even be playing but actually trying to hurt the child. Roethke describes the father’s hand as battered when he says in line 10 that “The hand that held my wrist, was battered on one knuckle.” Battered has a dark meaning behind it, one that specifically relates to abuse. Battered is commonly used to describe someone who is physically beaten. Roethke’s use of battered tears away at the reader’s good mood and makes them question the story and makes them wonder if there is abuse here. This is important as it is told from the loving child, so the family members aren’t described as battered in an attempt to acquit the father. In contrast to its last interpretation, line 13, “You beat time on my head”, can also be read with a negative feeling. The word beat is commonly used in relation to domestic abuse, an association that even if the reader doesn’t try to make it still connects subconsciously. Other words could have been used, such as tap or kept time, but Roethke’s decision to use beat shows that it is not light and friendly, but rough. Several times throughout the poem the specific words can be read with opposite moods, causing the reader have a conflicting feeling about the subject. These conflicting feelings of love from the child and abuse from the father reveals the difficulty of understanding the relationship.

Roethke captures the deep and difficult feelings a child who loves their abuse father unconditionally. He shows the difficult of the relationship by capturing a dark topic and showing it in a brighter light. Roethke take a subject that the world may be angered by or call a criminal and talks about this subject as a hero, showing that loving a villain could make him look like a hero. Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” explores this love between father and child by using word choice that displays the contrasting views of the subjective child and the objective world. Roethke provided a unique view on a difficult topic.
