The poem My Papa’s Waltz has an innocent enough title but the content that it describes it anything but. It tells the story of a young boy being beaten by his drunken father. However, in doing this the poem uses language, such as waltzing and romped, that would make it sound like a boy dancing with his father in a light-hearted tone. Despite this the use of ironic language and tone describing a dance gives more gravity to the much more serious topic of domestic and child abuse.  This is a heavy topic to cover especially when disguised as a father and his son having fun but it is done in a way that pulls a reader in and draws sympathy from them. Both the word choice and style of the poem contribute to this because of the overall tone and meaning of the passage being innocent but clearly trying to hide something much darker behind a thinly veiled curtain of word choice.

In the first paragraph The word waltzing is used in a very odd way, hiding the reality of what the real situation is using a word that is associated with fun and joy. When looked past the simple meaning of the word it is revealed what’s happening is much more sinister. This use of the word brings much more gravity to the what is happening. Much like how a children’s song plays in a horror movie to bring about a sinister tone.  In the second paragraph The word romped is used which is another term that is often used when describing a dance or a style of dancing. This time, however, its other meaning is used to show how rough it was getting between the two. Romped is not meant to describe something soft and light its mean to show how rough and tumble stuff is getting when talking about an activity between people. In the third paragraph it says “at every step you missed”, in a waltz there are a lot of easily missed steps, again using dance language to hide but somehow still bring more intensity to a horrible reality of alcohol abuse and neglect. There is also a line in the poem that says “you beat time” a musical term but immediately after it says “on my head” showing a context that is not nearly as innocent. When used in this context reveals something darker behind the disguise of a simple and joyful dance with playful music.

The rhythm to the poem is short and choppy with lines that have at most five or six words in them and flowing between two lines at a time with some kind of punctuation in between every second line and the next most often a semi colon or a period. These short and choppy lined are reminiscent of a child’s lullaby when going to sleep or a waltz. The lines are also very simplistic using easy to understand language that a child might use. This use of style gives an innocent feel to the poem as a whole and doesn’t give the feel of much depth to the meaning behind the words that this rhythm carries. It also has a dancing feel to it much like a waltz which is what the rhythm of the poem is made to mimic. This kind of tone and rhythm with all of its intricacies feels like its innocent enough despite the ominous message the rest of the context provides. Again like the trailer to a horror movie the light tone gives a calming feeling normally but when put into a different context it makes everything that much scarier and ominous as it goes on. This pushes the message to the reader making it that much more poignant and drawing more sympathy than if he was being straight forward with what was actually happening. The deceptive and ironic use of this style is very effective for these very reasons giving much more power behind the message of the passage for the reader.

This passage is written in the style of narration from the little boy’s perspective describing what he is perceiving or perhaps what he wants to perceive it as because of how traumatic an experience it can be. Because it is from the view of a child explains why all the elements are made in a style that would be associated with a children’s song and using language that would mask the reality that is happening to the poor kid. They would want to do everything they could to either flush that memory out of their head or repress it deep down or even like it is in this case hidden behind the idea of something that is much more pleasurable and fun for a child. It is also written this way because people are hardwired to try to help kids in trouble or in danger. The writer took advantage of this to help push his message and hopefully grab more sympathy from an audience. 

The overall style, language, and tone of this poem is very innocent with a child-like feel to it. In reality its hiding something much darker and much more sinister than is first implied even by the title. The use of dance and musical language throughout the poem disguises the situation without any context but as soon as what is being said is look passed the truth of what’s going on is revealed. The style of the poem is written in the style of a fun dance and a peaceful child’s lullaby but the words that the rhythm carries are much darker than initially felt by any reader paying attention to the style. And the narrative is written such that it’s from the perspective of a child and once put into context it is meant to grab emotions from the reader using their basic biological wiring to feel sympathy and to feel sorry for the pain that a child is going through. All of this ironic use of language is clearly designed to bring more gravity and power to the reality of the terrible situation the child is going through.