Waltz By Roethke

A waltz is "a dance 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). The fact that this poem is written in iambic trimeter just serves as evidence that Roethke wanted it to sound like a waltz when read aloud and the structure to mirror one as well. Coincidentally, triple time is also written as ¾, and each stanza of this poem has four lines. Nothing happens with Roethke by sheer luck. In the title of this poem, the speaker's fondness to his father is illuminated by the term used for him. Papa implies that they share a close, personal relationship. In contrast, the speaker refers to his mother as simply

That is such a sharp difference in emotional attachment as the speaker refers to his Papa and Mother. The detachment between the speaker during this waltz and his Mother is further supported by the fact that it's his Papa teaching him how to waltz and not the Mother; normally, the situation is reversed and fathers teach daughters how to waltz. In addition to that, distance between Papa and Mother could also be implied by her reaction to the waltz in the kitchen. Parents also usually dance together in the home and again, in this case, they are not. This is just a vignette from the young speaker's memory, though, and we have no way of knowing if the distance between the Mother and the two men in the home is just a reflection of the moment or permanently so. Rhyme scheme also has a grand part to play how the structure shapes the content of this poem. In the first stanza, the rhyme

There's an underlying battle with Papa and the length of his life. One could call it a dance with death. Reading through the poem again with this mindset makes the first stanza looks much different than the initial reading, Yes, the first line does indicate that the whiskey is indeed making our speaker quite dizzy or disoriented, because he has to hang on like death. But think about why Roethke chose to say he hung on like death instead of the more common phrasing of hanging on for dear life. By doing this, he fostered a relationship between the living and the dead. Death is the one inevitable thing that clings on to us all, including our speaker, perhaps even when the speaker is older. On that note, the time reference featured in through the speaker's point of view is important because it illustrates that this is a memory from the past. The nostalgia that lingers in the last stanza suggests that the speaker is not only clinging to his father's shirt, but the older version of the speaker is clinging to the memory of his father who might not be there in the later years. Roethke ends the poem with the pair still waltzing, suggesting he too is clinging to the memory despite the pain it may cause. When the speaker describes that Papa beat time on his head, he depicts literally keeping time for the waltz on his son's head, but it could also be interpreted as the father is beating time, meaning death. The