Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

Abuse or Love?

Theodore Roethke let the interpretation of his poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” up to his readers. Some believe this poem is one of a cheerful relationship between a son and his father. Other individuals are convinced that this poem has a concealed essence of parental harm. In my interpretation of the poem, the imagery, language, symbolism, and tone give me the intuition of great love between father and son.

“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that reveals joyous memories an adult man holds and cherishes of his father from long ago, even with situations where his father had been drinking. These blissful memories are expressed through uses of imagery and language, with words such as “waltzing” (line 4), “romped” (line 5), and “clinging to your shirt” (line 16) to show the boys love and inability to let go or be separated from not only his father but his best friend. The author gives the persona of not only a loving and playful father but a very hardworking man.

Roethke does a great job of showing the fathers diligent personality.

He shows this in the third stanza, when the narrator recalls features like “battered on one knuckle” (line 10), and that his ear was “scraped by a buckle” (line 12). He continues to describe this in the fourth stanza by adding that his fathers “palm [was] caked hard with dirt” (line 14). The images this son holds of his father clearly insinuates a hard working man who just came home from a long day at work and was enjoying time with his son before he had to put him down to bed. These memories answer the question on whether this was love or abuse; considering enjoyable remembrances wouldn't come from a child hood of mistreatment or assault in any

form.
The waltz becomes the symbol of the story, expressing a glorified and unbelievable connection a father shares with his young boy, which gives this poem its title “My Papa’s Waltz.” This poem demonstrates the sons dependence on his father. The poem ends with the line, “waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt,” concluding the boy is extremely attached to his father through love and endearment, and it shows the fathers returned love to his boy
(lines 15,16).
The author not only uses the waltz as a symbol, he also uses it as the rhythm for his poem. The continual tempo throughout the lines gives it a subtle beat, like the waltz, giving the reader the feel of a dance. While giving the reader the feeling of dancing, it shows the joyfulness the child felt, and excludes the perception of abuse and somberness. He uses a tone of liveliness and emphasizes words like hung on, dizzy, held, clinging, and buckle to give the poem a playful and lovable feel. If it were about abuse the poem wouldn't be written using blithe filled symbolism to reminisce in his younger years with his father.
This poem is portraying a distinct and unbreakable bond between a father and his son. One can view this as a corrupted relationship due to the perception of mistreatment and ignorance of a child. People gain this outlook from the boy describing the dads “whisky on [his] breathe” and how his “mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself” (lines 1,7,8). This could be seen as the man expressing fear and resentment toward his parents. However, the flow of the words bounced off the pages with pure bliss. Therefore, this poem exemplifies the ability to look at situations with an open mind and various standpoints.