Reading Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” leaves the audience with a lot to think about and many different ways to view the piece. Even upon closer analysis it is difficult to determine exactly what is going on in this poem because the figurative language, meter, rhyme, and word choice come together in a way that leaves so much up to interpretation. This is one thing that makes this poem so great. At first, my interpretation was contrary to this because of the innocent imagery and word choice used. But, as I continued close reading the poem I realized there is a violent, abusive theme but that the narrator might not see the abuse as traumatically as the reader because it has become part of his everyday routine. 

Throughout this fairly short poem Roethke uses the recurring image of a waltz to distract the reader from the violence occurring. When I read the word ‘waltz’ certain associations are immediate such as gracefulness, partnership, love, etc. In general, these connotations are very positive and put the reader in a good mindset. This is very contradicting with the rest of the poem because the very first line of the poem reads, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke). This line makes the reader associate with thoughts completely contradictory to a waltz. With this mention of alcohol, the reader is instantly thinking of a drunk man that is clearly not going to be able to perform a waltz with any degree of grace or beauty. Knowing that this frunk man could not possibly be doing an actual waltz, the waltz must be a metaphor for something else. In this case I think it is pretty clear that the waltzing around the kitchen symbolizes the abuse the narrator is going through. Of course, Roethke does not come out and say this explicitly which is why this poem is up for so much interpretation. However, it makes sense that this would not be stated directly in the poem because it simulates how accustomed the narrator has become to this violence. This image of a waltz is the perfect way to tell the reader how much abuse the narrator has gone through because it is subtle, if Roethke had come straight out and said all of this the reader would immediately recognize the father as a violent, drunken monster, instead, he keeps these details vague and requires the reader perform a much closer reading. 

Despite the fact that the narrator grew accustomed to this abuse, the beatings still took their toll on him. In the fourth line Roethke states, “Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke), meaning that the violence the narrator has to endure is quite extreme. He continues in the next stanza with, “We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf” (Roethke), so clearly this beating is rough enough to disturb the entire kitchen. Not only was this treatment affecting the narrator physically but also mentally. This is shown in the last stanza with the line, “You beat time on my head” (Roethke). This could be interpreted many different ways as when this line is first read it seems to be quite innocent, the only seemingly violent word being ‘beat’. But, even with that word placed in there the line itself seems rather benign. However, if the term ‘time’ is interpreted as the narrator’s entire childhood, this line takes a very dark and somber turn because the reader realizes that the father has literally ruined his essential childhood years because of the beatings and abuse he has inflicted. 

The rhyme scheme and meter in “My Papa’s Waltz” is crucial to the interpretation of the poem because it lulls the reader into thinking there is a positive, and pleasant tone when this is not the case. The meter of this poem is iambic trimester which, upon some further research, I realized very few poems are actually written in and causes the unique sound and structure of “my Papa’s Waltz”. The interesting part of this meter is that it makes each line short and sweet so the reader bounces “happily” from line to line, I know while I first read through it I completely ignored the dark undertones because each line flowed so easily into the next. At first glance this poem seems to be a pleasant memory a child had with his playful, albeit drunk, father. When the rhyme scheme of this poem is analyzed it appears to be fairly straightforward ABAB and so on. However, when the reader takes a closer look at some of the words used to in the scheme, a few imperfections can be noticed. One of these is located in the first and third lines of the second stanza, “We romped until the pans…My mother’s countenance” (Roethke). This is just one example of the imperfect rhyme scheme as there are several others throughout the poem. This was obviously intentional by Roethke and one reason he might have done this is to simulate his father’s drunkenness because obviously it would be very difficult to rhyme a poem perfectly while intoxicated. 

The idea that the narrator may not see this event as particularly traumatic is interesting because he also may have forgiven his father at this point in his life. Roethke is writing about his childhood memory from the point of view of an adult. Therefore, at this point it seems very possible that he has forgiven his father for all the trauma he had caused in his childhood. Of course, there is some resentment still left over which is the reason for the dark, rough language, but at the same time he expresses through the entire poem that he still very much loves his father. This is perfectly summed up in the very last line of the poem, “Still clinging to your shirt” (Roethke), as this reflects upon the narrator’s childhood and despite all the mistreatment he still wishes to be close to his father. This makes perfect sense when I realized that Roethke’s father in real life died when he was a young teenager and this moment had a deep impact on him for the remainder of his life.

All in all, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke included many literary devices which made the exact meaning behind the piece quite confusing for the reader. It is very easy to be misled by some of the words and structure of the poem. A few of these include the rhyme scheme, imagery, word choice, among others. While these aspects of the poem confuse the meaning, they also allow the ability for individual interpretation. My individual interpretation of this poem is that there was indeed a dark, abusive theme to this poem, but also on top of that I came to see that, whether by choice or ignorance, the narrator in this piece might not be as keen to the severity of the abuse as the reader is. 
