Imagery is a useful literary tool that allows an author to use words to paint a powerful and poignant picture for the reader. This gives a more complete meaning in short writings such as a poem. In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” imagery and word choice is used to convey deeper interpretations of what is being stated on the surface of a relationship of a boy and his father. Behind closed doors, no one knows exactly what a family’s relationship is and how they interact. An abusive familial situation is usually kept secret because it is frowned upon in society. Roethke’s poem brings light to this sensitive subject. He achieves this by carefully choosing his words so each line has deep meaning and gives a better insight to the destructive relationship between a young boy and his father. 

The poems opening line states, “The whiskey on your breathe; Could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). By beginning the poem in such an outspoken manner, the author is showing the significance of the father’s alcoholism within the young boy’s life.  The potency of the whiskey on the father's breath caused the boy to feel “dizzy” as if he was drinking himself.  Whiskey is typically a drink enjoyed by many after a long day at work to help relax and unwind.  However, the amount the father drank was “way” past the typical one or two glasses. He is not just drinking to relax, but he is drinking to deal with his own issues in an unhealthy and destructive manner.  During the father’s drunken stupor, the child, “… hung on like death; Such waltzing was not easy” (3-4). Waltzing is used in an ironic context because it is typically a graceful and intimate dance between two willing partners, but there is an obvious struggle between the father and son. They are acting in contrasting manners; the father is taking his frustrations out on his son, while the son is trying to subdue his father by hanging on. A common theme throughout the poem is the son hanging onto his father no matter how much of a struggle (“death”) since he wants his relationship to work out with his father and be smooth like the waltz. 

Within the second stanza there is an apparent struggle between the two; “We romped until the pans; Slid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6). The imagery changes drastically in this stanza due to Roethke’s use of the word “romped” in comparison to the word “waltzing.” Romping is typically a playful struggle or fight between two individuals. The only way the father knows how to interact with his son is through physical abuse. By “romping”, he views it as playing instead of what it really is, abuse. The son struggles to subdue his drunken father causing pans to fall from the kitchen shelf. The next line states, “My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself” (7-8). The boy’s mother disapproves of how the father behaves but she is helpless because if she intervenes she will be the one “waltzing.” Women in abusive relationships fear the consequences if they react in what is viewed as a negative way to the abuser’s actions. She is obviously displeased by what is occurring and desires to help her son but she cowers from the situation. This is the only appearance of the mother in the poem. This is done deliberately to show her absence from the nightly quarrel between father and son. As a mother, her instinct is to help keep her son safe. However, by not being present she can look the other way from her husband’s abusive actions, preventing her from receiving the same punishment as her son.

The romp continues in the next stanza, “The hand that held my wrist; Was battered on one knuckle” (9-10) A battered knuckle is usually the result of punching an object. The father obviously has an anger problem and must get into fights with other men or even objects. By use of the word battered, it can be inferred that he recently battered his knuckle, painting a picture of a still fresh and bloody knuckle. “At every step you missed; My right ear scraped a buckles” (Line 11-12) A consequence of getting drunk is the loss of balance causing his son to stumble with him due to the father’s tight grip on his wrist. The boy is only about waist high to the grown man, meaning he must only be between the ages of six and seven. This is an atrocious and horrifying situation for a boy this young to be dealing with on his own.

The poems final stanza begins with, “You beat time on my head” (13). A young boy can mature a lot when dealing with an alcoholic and abusive father. He must become self-sufficient and learn how to stand up for himself. By “beating time on (his) head” he is in theory forcing a maturity in him that most children do not need to possess at such an early age. This type of maturity at such a young age can lead a young boy into trouble as he actually grows up sooner than expected. The father is teaching his son abuse is an acceptable response to unhappiness and this vicious cycle usually repeats throughout the generations of a family. It also states that the father is beating him, “With a palm caked hard by dirt” (14). The father must be in a blue-collar line of work where he uses his hands a lot, such as construction. The fact that the father has not even cleaned himself up before his alcohol induced rampage occurred shows the importance of alcohol to him. Most people would relax by taking a hot shower to wash away the day’s dirt, but his idea of “relaxing” is drinking whiskey and beating his son. The father, “Then waltzed me off to bed; still clinging to your shirt” (15-16). The irony of waltzing is repeated to help reiterate the imagery of the struggle from the beginning of the interaction all the way to finish. Also, the term “clinging” implies a sense of desperation in the boy. A young boy feels more of a connection with his father than his mother because a father is supposed to teach his child how to behave like a man and be his role model.  The boy desperately wants to have a real father figure and “clings” onto the hope that one day his father will become one, no matter how poorly he is treated. 

The relationship between a father and his son can be complicated and are unique and complex in every family. Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” explains an unusual relationship of an abusive father and a helpless son. Through imagery the reader can visualize the “waltzing” and “romping” between the two, and the unpleasant reality of having an alcoholic for a father. Without the imagery, the subjects stated would be too direct and would not allow the reader to have an open interpretation of the text. 
