In “My Papa’s Waltz”, a drunken father and his son whirl around their home. The speaker describes their dance through aggressive steps and movements. The title of the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, leads one to believe it’s a positive and heartwarming moment between a father and his child, but many people read it as an abusive relationship. Theodore Roethke, however, narrates a more complicated affair. Through word choice it’s clear the father is violent in the poem, but he’s not harming his son in an abusive way.

Readers will interpret why people think it’s an abusive text by reading lines such as “You beat time on my head”. Roethke uses words such as “beat” and “battered” which people associate with violence so they think the father is abusive but they have to dig deeper and look beyond what’s in front of them. As one begins to analyze, they will notice the lines aren’t as smooth and nice as the famous dance would suggest. Roethke is very broad with the way he portrays his poem. He uses symbols and metaphors to emphasize the poem. For example, lines such as “We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf” may be inferred as violent acts acting upon the child, but it seems the father’s behavior is violent in general due to his intoxication. 

By looking at Roethke’s diction in “My Papa’s Waltz” to interpret the poem, one can argue the father’s behaviors are not violent towards his son. The text does not explicitly state the child is abused. The reader can see the diction as a correlation to the father’s intoxication. The irony is when the author refers to the father’s behavior as a waltz. He repaints the father’s behavior so there is not a negative image tied in with the scene, Roethke employs the metaphor of the waltz. Instead of a descriptive poem on how the father tumbled his way in the home, the text has a bit of a formal way of doing it. A child as innocent as the one in this poem one does not want to see his father being abusive so he sees the good in his father. To help my argument, children are afraid of parents who are abuse them, they will not go near them but in this poem the child clings to his father’s shirt, so this means he is not afraid of his father, meaning the father isn’t abusive.

The child without a doubt loves his father in the text proves that. “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy.” The text is also open to interpretation of the child loving his father. Even though the child is dizzy from the smell of the alcohol on his father, he still clings onto him because he loves him, despite his intoxicated partner. A child will not cling to a parent who is abusive. A victim of abuse will typically refrain from the person who is abusing them but the child still clings to his father at the end of the day. This supports the argument on how the father is not abusive towards his son. “At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle.” Due to the father’s ability not to walk with balance, he misses some steps resulting in the son getting his ear scraped. The father hurts his son but this is not intentional. Regardless of the mistakes his father made the boy still loves him.

In conclusion, Roethke does not display an abusive relationship. Violence doesn’t always mean abuse. This poem demonstrates mistaken ideas of relationships. Relationships aren’t what they seem to be. It helps readers look at more than the traditional black and white way of looking at relationships. The direct interpretation of the diction leads the reader to believe the poem is about abuse, but if you look closer it’s not intentional. 
