The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, explores the relationship of a boy with his father. Roethke grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where his father and uncle owned a greenhouse. He spent much of his childhood at the greenhouse, giving him a bigger connection to his father and uncle. When he was fourteen, his uncle committed suicide and his father died of cancer. The two events happening in such a short period of time to two of his closest loved ones obviously took a toll on his life. Later in his life, he became severely depressed while teaching at Michigan State University. The combination of these events influenced him to be the writer that he eventually became.  The poem he wrote describes a night in which the father is holding his son and dancing around their kitchen together, while the boy’s mother watches. The two are having innocent fun together in the general interpretation of the poem, but it can also be interpreted as abuse, causing the attitude to be more negative. The reader is drawn to this poem because of the variety of available interpretations of the poem and sparks interest by making the reader think more deeply about the nature of the relationship of the boy with his father. Since the relationship of the two can seem unclear, readers often have mixed feelings about the attitude of the work. The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, has a positive attitude through the nature of the waltz and innocent fun, but can be interpreted with a negative attitude through the possible abuse of the child.

First of all, the waltz being described in the poem is just a dance and the relationship between the two is a healthy one. There is no deeper meaning given to it other than that the boy is spending time with his father by dancing around their house together. This point is made clear through the language throughout the poem, and should be taken almost literally. The son and his father dance around their kitchen, knocking down various cooking utensils in their way, “We romped until the pans/ Slid from the kitchen shelf” (line 5-6). The relationship being described is a healthy one, in which the father and his son are able to enjoy any moment together and make anything into a game. The fact that the boy and his father are able to do this gives the poem a positive attitude, representing the love between the two. In addition, in the beginning of the poem, the son is holding onto his dad with love, “But I hung on like death:” (3). The author gives a comparison to death in order to show how tightly he is holding onto his father to keep up with his pace in the dance. The son clearly loves spending time with his father and wants to be as close to him as possible. In addition, Roethke had a close knit relationship with his father growing up, giving the reader little reason to believe that the poem would relate to his life in a negative manner. Since the two were so close in the years that his father was alive, there would be no reason for Roethke to disrespect his father in writing years after his death. Throughout the poem, the waltz being described is simply a dance. The father and his son have a healthy and positive relationship, contributing to the positive attitude of the poem.

Secondly, the entire poem is based on pure and innocent fun. The two spent their time dancing around, having a fun time with one another, despite the possibility that the son got hurt on accident, “At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle.” (11-12). These lines represent the minor hiccup that may have been faced by the two when they missed a step of the dance that they were doing. Since the boy was standing so close to his father, messing up one small part made the boy scrape his ear against his father, which happened to be where his belt buckle reached. Getting a minor injury does not automatically make the attitude into a negative one, or the experience as a whole a bad one. The time spent between the father and son clearly indicates a positive relationship in that they can spend time together and even if something that can be negative may happen, the best can be made of the situation. Just because the child scraped his ear, does not mean that it was done intentionally by his father. It is all in innocent fun and the father and son dancing together was just that, but may be perceived in a different nature.

Although the majority of the poem has a positive tone to it, the poem can be interpreted with a negative attitude. At a first glance, the poem is often interpreted as a boy describing the abuse that he suffered from his father. The last stanza of the poem describes the end of the night for the boy, “You beat time on my head/ With a palm caked hard by dirt,” (14-15). This may be interpreted as the child being hit by his father. Since the poem ends with the boy being taken to bed, it may be understood that the father knocked his son out by the blow. The poem also recognizes that the mother notices the abuse, “My mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself,” (7-8). These two lines indicate that the mother notices that the abuse is wrong, but does nothing to fix it. The mother knows that the treatment of his son is not acceptable, making the interpretation more negative. Since abuse is something that is frowned upon in society, it causes it to be negative. The recognition of the upset mother proves that the poem is to be interpreted negatively. Overall, the poem can have a negative attitude depending on the specific interpretation of the poem.

The poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke can be interpreted both positively and negatively, but after rereading it multiple times, the poem tends to sway toward a more positive attitude. The positivity tends to be more evident throughout the poem because of the innocent fun that is displayed by the father and his son. The poem may still be interpreted as abuse, causing it to have a more negative attitude, though. In the end, the poem in its entirety can be interpreted both positively and negatively, having the impact of mixed emotions for the reader.
