Theodore Roethke was a very unique and bright individual. Despite struggling with some form of mental illness Roethke still managed to produce great poems, such as My Papa’s Waltz. This poem can be interpreted in numerous ways, but I believe that the narrator is talking about his sexually abusive father.

The title alone says a lot about the central theme of the poem, My Papa’s Waltz. A waltz is a very intimate dance, and it requires the two dancers to be very close with each other. In this case the narrator is waltzing with his abusive father. Theodore Roethke could have chosen any type of dance to insert in the title, but he specifically chose the waltz. The reason behind this is because the waltz symbolizes the sexual abuse the father imposes on the narrator.

Throughout the entire poem Roethke hints at his father being a drunk. In the first two lines of the poem he addresses this issue as such, “ The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke 90). This line clearly tells the reader that the narrator's father is an alcoholic. Having an alcoholic father could easily lead to a sexual abusive relationship. The narrator’s entire dilemma with his family began because of his father’s drinking problem. The first two lines also infer that the narrator and the father were physically very close to each other, because the narrator could smell the whiskey on his/her father’s breath. 

The next two lines of the first stanza clearly wrap up the thoughts brought up from the first two lines. In the next two lines Roethke writes, “ But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke 90). From these two lines it is clear that the narrator is frightened. He hung on like death, because the father was forcing him to waltz. An alcoholic father is not something that can always be handled with ease, and that is why the waltzing was not easy. The young narrator is powerless in this situation, and is forced to his father’s bidding. 

Alcoholics tend to be very aggressive, and the second stanza of the poem portrays the father’s aggressive nature. The next two lines state, “ We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf”(Roethke 91). These lines truly show how harsh the father really is. The word romping means to play aggressively, and Roethke specifically uses imagery here to get through to his reader. The father and son were going back and forth until pans slid off the shelf. I believe the narrator uses the word romped because he is afraid to describe what is actually going on. Romping infers that both parties are being fairly aggressive with each other, but in reality it is only the father who is being aggressive.

Up until the next two lines of the poem there were only two main parties, the narrator and the father. Unfortunately the father’s abuse was not solely directed at the narrator alone.  At the end of the second stanza Roethke introduces a third party into the situation. The end of the second stanza states, “ My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself”(Roethke 91). The new party introduced in this situation is the narrator’s mother. From these two lines the reader can easily infer that the mother is upset. The mother has a number of reasons to be upset. Her husband is an abusive alcoholic who sexually abuses her son. The last line also infers that that narrator and his mother need help. In the line the word “itself” implies that the mother will not get through this dilemma on her own. The mother and son are inferior to the abusive father, and desperately need help from another party.

As a whole the second stanza paints a perfect picture of the life in the narrator’s household. The only three people living in the house are the narrator, his mother, and his father. The father is a raging alcoholic who tends to get very angry and abusive. It is likely that the father abuses the narrator’s mother as well, because the mother does nothing when she witnesses the abuse inflicted on her son.

The father is essentially untouchable in this scenario, and is in complete control. The beginning of the third stanza shows this, “ The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” (Roethke 91). Grabbing a person by the hand, and grabbing a person by the wrist have two completely different meanings. When someone grabs you by the hand it is a friendly and caring gesture. Being grabbed by the wrist is the exact opposite. The hand holding the young boy’s wrist shows the ridiculous amount of control the father has. The second line shows the more abusive side of the father as well. Having a battered knuckle can only result from punching something repeatedly with brute force. The first two lines of the stanza show that the father is clearly able to sexually abuse his own son, and is not afraid to hurt anyone who stands in his way.

The end of the third stanza shows how awful the narrator’s situation really is. The next two lines of the stanza state, “ At every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle”(Roethke 91). Every time that the narrator slipped up he would get punished for it. I believe Roethke specifically uses the word buckle to infer that the narrator’s head is close to the father’s crotch area. This line emphasizes that the narrator always had to obey his father, and that there was no room for error. The narrator is obviously not actually waltzing with his father, but decides to use this term because he is afraid to describe what his father is really doing to him.

The first two lines of the final stanza elaborate on the father’s personal life. The beginning of the last stanza says, “ You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt”(Roethke 91). This line gives just a little insight of what the father does for a living. The father is still portrayed as an aggressive man here because the narrator uses the word “beat”, but the second line tells the reader something unknown about the father. A palm caked by dirt infers that the father is a hardworking man who is most likely frustrated in his line of work. This directly correlates to him becoming an alcoholic who abuses his family because it is the only way he can cope with his internal issues. 

In summation, narrator is unable to deal with his father and his mother is no help to him either. The last two lines of the poem sum up the father’s role in the relationship, “ Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt”(Roethke 91). It is clear that the father sexually abuses his son, and that they are not actually waltzing. The son remains powerless in this situation because he still clings to his father’s shirt. 
