My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke is a controversial poem with many different interpretations. Many people believe this poem to be about the abusive relationship between a father and a son, but this poem is really about a loving memory the author has between him and his father. Theodore Roethke purposely writes this poem in order for it to have an open ended interpretation and make the poem more interesting by using irony, symbolism, simile, imagery, personification, and many other forms of figurative language to tell a story. The words and phrases used in the poem can easily mislead people to assume the worst, but in order to fully understand the poem, the reader must approach it from a different standpoint. Most people interpret the events as abusive because they look at it from a modern standpoint, but they need to approach this by taking into consideration the time period that it was written in. This poem was published in 1942 and reflects on a period before that, so when reading and interpreting it, the reader should consider that the time period is over seventy years ago and words may have different meaning. The use of figurative language in this poem plays a major role in the different ways people interpret it. 

The poem starts with, “The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy;” (1-2). The author is talking about his father who has obviously been drinking whiskey before playing with his son. When the author describes being dizzy, he is talking about the strong undeniable scent of whiskey making him feel nauseous. This shows that the author is young and creates imagery. The use of imagery is meant to get the reader to almost smell the whiskey in order to get a sense of how strong the alcohol is. The fact that the father has strong whiskey breath misleads people to think that he is an alcoholic about to lose his temper and go into a rage by beating his son. Imagery also plays a role in this because the words “whiskey” and “dizzy” have negative connotations, and the author is trying to purposely mislead the readers into thinking that the father is an abusive drunk, which plays into the whole controversy of the poem. 

Then he states, “But I hung on like death; / Such waltzing was not easy” (3-4). The fact that Roethke already stated that was father has had a few drinks and now he, the son, is hanging on like death is what drives home to some people that the father is abusive. Roethke is really saying that even though he felt dizzy from the smell of whiskey he still held on and tried not to let it slow him down because he was running around the kitchen with his father. This is where the waltz comes in. The waltz in this poem is symbolism, and could either mean a dance or a fight. The author uses the term waltz because the way people move when they are dancing, running, or fighting, is a bit choreographed and artistic. A fight could be artistic based on how people move and how engaged they are with each other. The father is chasing his son around the kitchen in a fun, joking way, and once the little boy is caught, they end up waltzing around. Simile is used to show how much effort the author was putting into keeping pace with his father. Though he could have said that he hung on for life, he chose to use death. Death is unforgiving and once it gets a hold of someone, it has a strong grip and does not let go. The author also uses the term death because it has a dark meaning and feel. This is where he goes back to misleading the reader and trying to make them interpret this as a disturbing situation. When he says that the waltz is not easy, he is talking about the difficulty of trying to avoid being caught by his father and also trying to keep up with the dance, especially with the scent of whiskey making him feel sick. If the reader interprets this as an abusive situation, this line could signify that the little boy was having great difficulty trying to protect himself from his father’s shenanigans. 

After that, Roethke states, “We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf;” (5-6). The little boy and his father are running around the kitchen playing tag and waltzing. They are extremely engrossed in the game and are having carefree fun, so they run into the pots, pans, and other kitchenware. The fact the father is moderately drunk may also play a role in him bumping into the supplies around the kitchen. Line 5 gives a hint of where the setting could be, and line 6 confirms it. This could easily be misinterpreted as a drunken father knocking down the pots and pans while chasing his son around the kitchen and beating him. 

Next he says, “My mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself” (7-8). This could be interpreted as the mother was frowning and upset because she disapproves of the father’s abuse, but does not want to get involved because she fears her husband. The author is simply saying that the mother was frowning and upset that her husband and son made a big mess in the kitchen that she will probably have to clean up. She, like most mothers, disapproves of the duo’s horseplay in the kitchen. These lines use personification in order to show just how deep the mother’s frown was. Personification also allows the reader to understand that the mother completely disagrees of the situation while creating imagery. One could almost picture the woman standing in the doorway or corner of the kitchen with a displeased frown on her face.

After that he states, “The hand that held my wrist / Was battered on one knuckle;” (9-10). Roethke is describing the hardened and callused state of his father’s hand. His father is a blue collared man that probably has a tough physical labor job, so his hands end up being extremely unpleasant and rough. During this time period, men were most likely the only ones in a household that worked, while the women stayed at home to cook, clean, and take care of children. Men would do hard physical labor that required utilizing their entire bodies to be efficient, but mostly their hands. This would cause the father to have the type of hands described. The author also talks about his wrist being held by his father’s which means that the father finally caught him and they are now dancing. The poem is very ironic because it speaks of dancing and having a good time with one’s father, but the author uses words and adjectives such as “battered,” “whiskey,” “dizzy,” “death,” and many more that have negative connotations. He is recounting a joyful memory, but consistently uses words that are not positive and have a dark meaning which makes the situation to seem unpleasant. These lines could easily be misinterpreted as the father’s hands are busted up from beating the little boy due to the use of the word “battered” and the fact that it was previously stated that the father has been drinking and that they were knocking about the kitchen. 

The next couple of lines say, “At every step you missed / My right ear scraped a buckle” (11-12). Again, this is only confirming the fact that the author is a little boy, probably about waist height. While the father is waltzing with his son, the son’s ear is hitting his belt buckle because he is short. The terminology used in these lines is the author again trying to get the reader to interpret this as an abusive situation. The words “missed” and “scraped” make it seem like every time the father missed a swing at his son, the boy was still hurt by something else pertaining to his father, and in this case, it is his belt. Even if that is not the scenario that one pictures, these words imply that there is fighting involved. 

The first two lines in the last stanza say, “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt,” (13-14). The word “beat” has a negative connotation and may cause someone to think that the father is beating the son on the head. Line 13 is describing how the father is tapping the rhythm of the waltz on top of the boy’s head. The word beat is used to describe the tapping motion of the father, on the son’s head, as he tries to remember the counts for the dance in order to maintain a rhythm. Line 14 is essential to the poem because it ties everything together. The father has palms that are caked in dirt so that confirms the theory that he is a blue collared worker and does hard physical labor. Due to this, the father probably goes out for drinks after work with his coworkers frequently, hence the reason why his breath smells like whiskey. This line also shows that the father comes home and immediately starts spending time with his son rather than getting cleaned up first. This single line confirms why the father’s hands are rough, his drunkenness, and that the father loves the son and is not abusive. 

Finally, the author says, “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt” (15-16). The use of the word waltzed in line 15 does not mean to dance, he means to carry. This creates imagery and makes the reader picture a father carrying his son off to bed in an almost sing-song way. It creates the image of a happy family. Line 15 is stating that his father carried him to bed, and line 16 shows that the son really admires and adores his father because he is clinging to his shirt. Line 16 also means that the son is not ready to go to bed and would rather spend more time with his father. These two lines are essential to understanding the poem. One could easily interpret this to mean that after beating the child, the father took him to bed, and the kid was so beaten up that he had to hold on to his father to keep from falling. This is an incorrect interpretation because the previous lines show that the father came home and began to bond with his son, rather than domestically abuse him.

If a person was to simply read this poem without really giving it deeper thought, they would think that it is about the abusive relationship between a father and a son because that is what Theodore Roethke wants you to believe based on his word choice, but after picking it apart, the poem has a completely different meaning. The author is the little boy in the poem and he is recounting a joyful memory with his father. The son really admires his father and enjoys spending time with him goofing around, but probably does not get to do this a lot since his father works long, then goes out for drinks after. That is why this is a special memory. Based on the terminology and connotations used, Roethke probably wrote the poem in this format to confuse people, and make it more open ended for interpretation, but the main interpretation he was going for was a loving memory, not a memory of his abuser. Roethke’s reason for writing the poem the way he did was to tell a specific story and try to get the reader to think about it more and look deeper. He wrote from a first person point of view to make the story more personal and gather more of an emotional response from the reader. The format of the poem was four quatrains that spoke of completely different occurrences. He wanted to emphasize each part and tell the story in a specific sequence of events. Also, the poem appears to have taken place at night since the son went to bed. Using this time of day also plays a role in Roethke making the memory seem dark. Night time gives off a menacing vibe while daytime gives off a positive and enthusiastic vibe. The time of day, terminology used, and double meaning or words add to the poem and keeps the reader guessing. 
