The Actual Meaning of My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke Essay

In the next stanza (380) it states, “we romped until the pans/ slide of the kitchen shelf.” Some will see as the father was too drunk to dance and he fell over knocking the pans off the shelf. I understood it as a father and son playing around in the kitchen which means they seemed contentment and accidentally knocking down the pans the mother just cleaned. Then the mother seemed to be upset as they knocked them down.

Due to the diction in this poem some may argue that this poem expresses mistreatment towards one’s child. To be exact in stanza three “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” shows loving care from a parent, although, it reveals a series of violence. On the contrary, the poem could indicate fond memories with his father that weren’t remembered as misuse. Therefore, Roethke reflects on what may have been “waltzing,” recognized as rough play. The words “battered” and “scraped”, “beat” and “hard” implies the rough handling of the boy by the father identified as the “waltz,” Stating that his intentions were innocent and careless. When the author describes the waltz was “not easy” suggest the boy was having a tough time dancing with his father.In addition,, if the boy has to “hang on like death” the waltz must have

Readers of poetry appreciate poems that challenge their thinking and require critical analysis of various elements to determine an appropriate interpretation. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” which combines character, setting, and word choice to create questions in the reader’s mind. Looking closely, it appears that Theodore Roethke portrays a scene of un-intentional abuse between a father and his young son.

In "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, the poem expresses love between father and son. Speaker is reflecting on a childhood experience involving his father. In the poem a father comes home with whiskey on his breath and starts to dance the waltz with his son. The line “ I hung on like death” (“Roethke” 3) provides emotional imagery pointing to the boy's love for his father and joy to have time with him. "We romped until the pans /slid from the kitchen shelf" (“Roethke” 5-6) provides a picture of an intense and wild time. "The hand that held my wrist / was battered on one knuckle"(“Roethke” 9-10) and "palm cacked hard by dirt"(“Roethke” 14) provides evidence that the father has spent time under some physical duress previously, but despite possibly being tired and drunk, he enjoys a wild dance with his son. The poem ends with the boy waltzed off to bed “still clinging to your shirt” (“Roethke” 16) showing the intense emotional love the boy has for his father. "My Papa's Waltz" concludes leaving the reader thinking of the strong bond of

Roethke’s use of diction throughout the entire poem helps the reader understand the meaning in the poem. He uses a great amount of negative connotation in his poem that at first glance strikes the reader as being about abuse. Words such as “whiskey,” “dizzy,” “romped,” “scraped,” and “beat” radiate negatively. However the word “romped” actually means “to play energetically,” or “to engage in sexual activity” after looking up the definition the reader will most likely assume it would be “to play energetically” this is because of the following lines “The pans slid from the kitchen shelf.” However the words that follow are “My mother’s countenance/ could not unfrown itself” these startling words help reveal the idea that they couldn’t have been playing energetically because why would a mother be frowning at the fact that a son and his father are playing around? Additionally, in lines 9 and 10 “The hand that held my wrist/ Was battered on one knuckle” those profound lines highlight the idea that they weren’t dancing or playing around because why would the father have his hand in such tight grasp around the child’s wrist? Ultimately, Roethke used such negative connotation to illuminate the idea of his father abusing him.

When one thoroughly analyzes the context of the poem, the purpose of the poem becomes quite clear. At first glance, one interprets “My Papa’s Waltz” as an abusive relationship between Roethke and his father. However, upon further investigation, readers are able to see the fondness within the poem. When researching about Roethke’s childhood, his father passed away when he was a young child, so this poem is reflecting the “romping” and dancing that occurred when his father was still alive. Additionally, his father worked at a greenhouse, which would explain his “battered knuckle” and “palm caked hard by dirt.” The newfound information allows readers to create connections between his childhood and the poem. Naturally, when readers see the words “battered,” “beat,” and “scraped,” they assume a violent tone, but words like “romped” and “clinging” apply a playful and nostalgic tone. Such diction can create negative connotations, but with context individuals are able to discover the positive meaning behind the words.

The boy says that the “waltzing was not easy,” which could refer to dancing with his drunk dad or that the father harming the child and that the son is linking it to a dance instead of a beating (Roethke 552). It is because of this that Roethke’s poem could mean that his father and he are dancing or that the boy is getting hit. It is because of this widely interpretable part of the poem that there are three different ideas on what the poem actually means. The first one is that the child look to his father with fear and joy. The other two sides are a like in the fact that they think that the poems intensity. One of them thinks that the poem has a more joyful mood because their personal experience when their father became drunk and loved them instead of hurting them (Fong 79-80). On the flip side of the coin, people think that the poems tone is more fearful because in the beginning they hear that the fathers been drinking and is now scaring the mother and the son instead of being a happy story (Fong 80). Bobby Fong thinks that “the poem is like a seesaw… hard, dirt, clinging),”(80). This shows that he thinks that the story has both fearful parts and joyful parts. However, in Hayden’s “The Whipping” there isn’t as much room for interpretation because it basically describes clearly an adolescent getting whipped publicly.

Whenever Roethke talks about “[beating time on my head]”(13) the only thing I can imagine him discussing is that time is precious and should not be wasted, something our parents already stress to us as their children. In the next line of the stanza he continues to emphasis the hard work that his father does by metaphorically describing his dirty hands as “[palms caked hard by dirt]”(14). Like everything else in the world, there is always an ending. Now their song is over, as is their dance, and the father is “[waltzing him off to bed/as he clings to his father’s shirt]”(15-16). He clings to this shirt now more than ever, because his shirt is all that he has left of him. His disease has ran it’s course and has

The third and fourth stanzas become ambiguous with the use of diction such as "battered" in Stanza 3 and "beat" in Stanza 4. A significant change in these stanzas is also that the speaker addresses his father directly, whereas the first two stanzas told the story in the third person. However, there are certain elements that clarify the intent of the subject matter, not to describe or address a father who was abusive, but rather to describe the realities of life at the time. In Stanza 3, for example, it is important to note that it was the father's knuckle was battered. In Stanza 4, he did not beat the boy himself, but rather kept time on his head with his palm. The palm that was caked by dirt could have been from a day at menial labor or falling on the way from drinking whiskey. The buckle that scraped the child's ear appears to be the result of an accidental misstep rather than intentionally harmful.

Roethke’s use of imagery helps the readers develop the image of the positive memory he shared with his father. The author describes “pans sliding from the kitchen shelf” which indicates the younger author and his father are dancing in the kitchen accidentally knocking objects over. In fact, the line before that line uses the word “romped” which means roughhousing. Individuals can infer that the author and his father are either practicing for a dance coming up or they are just having a father-son moment. In stanza three he states, “at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle” which describes the younger author getting a cut on his ear from the belt of his father. Although this sounds kind of harsh, the young author is still small and probably dancing on his father’s feet while his father is holding his hands; for this reason, the small child gets scraped with his father’s belt buckle. On the whole, imagery in Roethke’s poem gives the readers a better understanding on what his fond memory with his father was about.

As we can see, Roethke 's poem is ambiguous in meaning. However, there is many elements supporting the idea that the poem imply an abusive alcoholic father and his dysfunctional relationship with his son. The use of poetic language and style help convey the complex meaning of the poem. In addition, the poem is an excellent example of irony. The poem appears to be written by the boy in the story when he is an adult. Apparently, the man realizes that his father 's irresponsible actions were his ways of actually demonstrating his true affections towards

Theodore Roetheke uses connotation throughout the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” to evoke a negative feeling and make us feel sorry for the boy because of how confused he is by the situation he is in. Theodore Roetheke says in his poem, “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy, but i hung on like death.” By putting these words in the text, Theodore indicates that the kid is confused with the fact that his dad is a drunkard

​“My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke comes across in many different ways to its readers. Some say that it is about a child describing his childhood abuse or possibley just about a child enjoying time with his father. The recall of the memory is perhaps read as a bittersweet moment or maybe more bitter than sweet. The poem interpreted to me is about a boy reminiscing on fun times with his father.

The title of a poem should dictate how the reader approaches the subject that is being discussed. In the title of this poem, the speaker refers to his father as “papa”. This shows that the speaker is very close with his father in this moment. This poem is classified as a lyric, which privileges the individual moment. By looking at what a lyric is, the reader should realize that one cannot assume that the speaker felt this way about his father for his whole life. He is just talking about how he was feeling in that particular moment. “My Papa’s Waltz” is told in a dual point of view. The speaker is thinking back now as an older man about how he felt when he was a child. A “waltz” is defined as “a dance in triple time performed to music in triple time by couples who, almost embracing each other, swing round and round in the same direction with smooth and even steps moving on as they gyrate” (OED). In the poem, Roethke mimics the ¾ time of the traditional waltz with three beats per line and four lines per stanza but reverses the meter. Therefore, the poem is actually a waltz in itself.

While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to look back on his most fondest childhood memories he has created of dancing with his father.