“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke can be interpreted in more ways than one. Some may say that it is a poem about alcoholism or child abuse, but my interpretation is that it is about sexual assault. Through the specific word choice and the strong diction, addition of alcohol, and sexual terms one can conclude that My Papa’s Waltz is about sexual assault and not a special moment between a father and their child.   

The reader can tell that this is between a child and a grown adult because of a line in stanza three. “And every step you missed my right ear grazed the buckle” (Roethke). This shows that the narrator is short and only reaches up to the buckle on the father’s pants. 

In the first stanza, the reader gets a sense of what her father is like. For example, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke). These two lines immediately share with reader that the father in the story is a drunk. That this hindrance could and will make him angry and violent. How this relates to sexual assault is that the father is not in the right mind and his choices would be outlandish and exaggerated. Being under the influence of alcohol can lead to dangerous choices that can put others in danger. His ability to know right and wrong is severely diminished. 

 The word romped can have so many different meanings both sexual and non-sexual, although in this case I interpreted it as sexual. “We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf” (Roethke). When describing a waltz, which the author is doing here, romping does not come to mind. A waltz in itself is a structured, formal dance that is graceful. Romping is not a graceful action. I interoperate this action as a struggle. The child is fighting to get away from his/her abuser, which in this case is his/her father. No matter how hard the child fights they are unable to break from the grasp. 

Growing up myself in an alcoholic household, my mother would try everything she could to keep me safe, but sometimes she needed to stay out of it. The child speaks of his mother as, “My mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself” (Roethke). This specific line refers to how the mother knows what is going on, but in order to keep her and her child safe she stays out of it. She feels guilty because her child is getting the worst of it, but she is doing what is best for her child in that moment.

The author specifically creates this poem to rhyme, as if it was a song that could be danced to. This further reiterates the idea of a waltz. When one thinks of a waltz they do not think of something cruel or malicious, but I feel the narrator specifically makes this a waltz to help themselves. In order to cope with the idea that you are being sexual abused, most find a way to justify the action or make it seem less terrible then it is. The narrator making this a waltz in a way to calm them and justifying the action of their father.  The child speaks of the situation as, “Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke). The narrator knows that what is happening is not right, but in order to make it through and survive, they do not fight. The idea that this sexual abuse is a daily occurrence is supported in this line. The narrator speaks of how this has happened before and that they are almost in the routine of it and to make their father happy they do not fight. 

The father in this poem clearly has no regard for the narrators wellbeing and has most likely been violent before. This point is clarified in the line, “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” (Roethke). This battered hand shows that he has somehow injured someone or something before. The only way to batter your knuckle is by hitting someone or something. Clearly the father has been violent before and that he especially violent when he is drinking. He is gripping the narrator in a way that is by no means loving. If it was a loving gesture, he would be holding the narrators hand. He is grabbing the wrist which shows that the narrator does not want this to happen and that the father is being controlling. 

Furthermore, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke can be interpreted as a poem about sexual assault. When first reading this poem, the reader may conclude that this a special moment between a father and their child. Although, through the use of strong diction, sexual terms, and the addition of alcohol one can conclude that this poem in about sexual assault and not just a mere waltz between a father and their child. 
