“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, when this poem is about a loving memory the speaker 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 to fully understand the poem, the reader must approach it from a different standpoint. Readers need to approach this writing 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 speaker is talking about his father who has obviously been drinking whiskey before playing with his son. When the speaker describes being dizzy, he is talking about the strong undeniable scent of whiskey making him feel nauseous. This shows that the speaker is young and uses sensory language. The use of scent is meant to get the reader to almost smell the whiskey to get a sense of how strong the alcohol is. Alcohol is mentioned in this poem to help show the reader that the father is carefree and happy at this time. Due to his current mood, he is playful and he wants to play with his son before bed. He is not in a drunken rage and taking his anger out on his son, because they are moving around the kitchen in a waltz, which is a dance that requires a calm focus to execute properly. 

Then he states, “But I hung on like death; / Such waltzing was not easy” (3-4). Roethke is 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 moving around the kitchen with his father. This is where the waltz comes in. The waltz in this poem is a literal dance. Since the father is a bit drunk, he is dancing around the kitchen in a fun, loose, joking way with the little boy, rather than the serious fluid motions that would be made in a choreographed waltz. Simile is used to show how much effort the speaker was putting into keeping pace with his father. When he says that the waltz is not easy, he is talking about the difficulty of trying to keep up with the dance and his father’s imprecise, quick movements, especially with the scent of whiskey making him feel faint. 

After that, Roethke states, “We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf;” (5-6). The little boy and his father are waltzing around the kitchen and bumping into appliances. They are extremely engrossed in the dance 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 running into the supplies around the kitchen since he is making such exaggerated movements. Line 5 gives a hint of where the setting could be, and line 6 confirms it. Next, he says, “My mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself” (7-8). The speaker is 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. 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 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 speaker 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 ironic because it speaks of dancing and having a good time with one’s father, but the speaker 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 negative and have a dark meaning which makes the situation seem unpleasant. 

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 speaker 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 first two lines in the last stanza say, “You beat time on my head / With a palm caked hard by dirt,” (13-14). 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 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 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 his son. 

Finally, the speaker says, “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt” (15-16). The use of the word waltzed in line 15 means to carry, rather than dance. This creates imagery and makes the reader picture a father carrying his son off to bed in an almost sing-song way. Line 15 is stating that his father carried him to bed, and line 16 shows that the son 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. The father and his son have shifted from a literal to symbolic waltz. This waltz described is to carry, not to dance. This is what gives the poem a positive vibe and lets the reader know that the duo is happy. 

Roethke 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 speaker is recounting a joyful memory with his father. The son admires his father and enjoys spending time with him and goofing around. He does not get to do this a lot since his father works long hours, which is why this is a special memory. 
