The Waltz, historically, is known for being a strong and elegant dance that typifies sturdiness and endearment. Theodore Roethkes’, “My papa’s Waltz”, portrays an ironic and slightly haunting poem about a young boy’s lasting love for his father even though his father seems to be the one hurting him the most. The irony that is demonstrated in the title is emphasized through the portrayal of a loving relationship when in fact the underlying message is harmful and as the readers divulge further into the text evidence of that is shown. The relationship between the young boy and the father is shown through the powerful symbolism the title represents. The readers soon realizes the father proves to be the most harmful aspect of the boy’s life.

As the reader delves deeper into the text, evidence that this “waltz” being performed may be more destructive than romantic is revealed in the first few lines of the poem. The narrator, who assumes the identity of the young boy, says “The whiskey on your breath / could make a small boy dizzy” which is the first affirmation of negligence from the father (90). The allusion to alcoholism is the first clue the readers receive to build the character of who the father really is. However, the next line is where readers could get confused the young boy says he “hung on like death” which is a symbolic for being everlasting, like the love a boy has for his father. In the poem, the boy exemplifies a cognitive dissonance between loving his father and putting himself in a dangerous situation. The evidence of the text suggest the father is incompetent and dangerous to the boy, which again is ironic, due the title of the poem and how the waltz, which represents the relationship between the boy and the father, is supposed to be loving but in all actuality is destructive.

Furthermore, another example malevolent behaviors from the father, appears in the third stanza when the boy says “At every step you missed / my right ear scraped a buckle” suggests that the fathers’ mistakes always seem to fall back on the young boy (91). It could also be interpreted in such a way that every time the boy makes his father unhappy, he is punished with a beating. Readers aren’t given the information of how old the little boy is in the memory, but it could be argued that the boy was old enough to develop Stockholm Syndrome, a condition in which the victim of a kidnapping or abusive relationship falls in love or acquires feelings of trust for the captor/abuser. In this case, not being able to understand the inaccurate parentings performed by the father, the boy could misinterpret the beatings are out of love and not malevolent gestures. 

Irony is the driving element of building the way in which the waltz is represented and creating a juxtaposition in the father’s true identity. The title “The Waltz” leads to different and ironic interpretations of the poem in which the waltz could symbolize the boy's entire relationship with his father which is made up between love, hate, father care and abuse. Within the diction of the poem the father is described in a sense that contradicts with his abusive actions and overall negative persona. The poet creates a sense of love and closeness to the father by calling him “Papa” – not father. ( ). This can be paralleled to today’s Netflix original “Stranger Things” in which the prisoner Eleven calls the mysterious man who has kidnapped her “papa” in an ironic way that leaves the viewers unsure of the relationship between the characters. The irony found in the final line of the poem leaves the reader wondering if the boy is “clinging” to the father’s shirt for dear life or for protection. ( ).

The authors diction throughout the text has highlighted the irony that he was trying to portray with the use of the title. As the narrator recalls a memory of the situation, it’s almost as if the only way he can comes to terms or cope with the horrifying act of his fathers’ abuse is by covering up the painful memory with something beautiful such as the waltz. 