A waltz is a dance that is often seen as a loving exchange between two people. Waltzing has a rhythm and is associated with a tradition that makes the partners appear to be gliding. This is the first impression upon reading the title “My Papa’s Waltz”.  The title makes the reader believe this is a beloved memory between a father and son that has an elegance and lightness such as the dance does. Theodore Roethke illustrates an abusive relationship between a young boy and his drunken father through the boy’s use of language toward the memory, the physical details of the father, and the mimicking of the dance through each stanza.

The young boy in the poem is presumably around the age of eight due to his recall of the memory. “My right ear scraped a buckle” (line 12) proves that the boy is only of waist height at the time of this incident. Because he is so young, it is in question whether he was old enough to remember all of the details of this “waltz” properly. Often nostalgia makes memories seem better than they were in reality and the boy obviously has senses of nostalgia as if he were not being abused. This appears as a sort of Stockholm syndrome in that the boy is turning the blatant “romping” and “beating of time” as an act of tough love or playfulness. 

The father is painted in a light of drunkenness and disorder. “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke lines 1-2) is the first impression the reader has of the father. This shows that he is intoxicated enough for his child to be able to recognize it. The father’s hands are those of a working man’s hands. They are “battered” and “caked by dirt” which shows how gruelling and taxing his day job must be. It is so hard that he comes home at night and hits his child and possibly his wife because of it. His roughness complements his drunkenness to display a cause and effect. Because of the life he is stuck with now, he drinks, and because he drinks, he performs regrettable actions.

The structure of the poem plays out in the same manner that a waltz between two people would. There is a back and forth movement between the father and son like they are dancing. The boy hangs on to his father during the first stanza. He is hanging on “like death” at this part in the waltz. Ironically, it can be said that he’s holding on for life as he is getting physically attacked by his father. In the last stanza, the boy is still clinging to his father’s shirt even after all of the abuse which goes back to the idea that he still loves him unconditionally regardless of what he might be put through. 

In conclusion, the boy in “My Papa’s Waltz” is in an abusive situation with his father that is shown through the language, structure and description used throughout the poem. The waltz is very prominent in the poem although it is a waltz of violence. The boy still has love for his father and in a sense recalls the memory fondly. 
