What Is The Mood Of My Papa's Waltz

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Meaning of “My Papa’s Waltz”
In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker/child is dancing with his father. The tone and mood give the poem a negative feeling. The father’s forceful behavior causes one to think the boy is not enjoying the dance. Another view of the poem is that the boy is just dancing with his father who is under the influence of alcohol, whereas the father is unaware of what he is doing to the speaker. It may be a normally entertaining activity for the father and son. Men tend to be more unrefined than women so it could just be that he was being harsh due to the alcohol in his system and the fact that he is not a woman dancing with the boy. First and foremost, there are several reasons for one to believe that the father is intoxicated dancing with his son. The speaker first states, “The whiskey on your breath/Could make a small boy dizzy;”(1-2) Then the boy says, “At every step you missed.”(11) These lines describe the actions of someone who has had one too many beers. When someone is like this, they tend to act very strange and clumsy. They are mainly unlike themselves. If this incident were common in the household, the boy …show more content…

To some, the poem is meant to be harsh as if the boy is harmed, but it is also a theory that this is a misunderstanding and an abnormal night for the family that the boy just could not forget. The fact that the poem is written as a waltz shows the rhythm of the dance between father and son and helps organize the complications within the lines. Roethke does a wonderful job with this piece by dividing the meaning so well. He creates an idea that the poem seems cruel and clumsy, yet honest and thought provoking. Coming to a conclusion, the idea of the kid not enjoying his time with his father is more convincing than the latter. This does not mean the father was abusing his son, it just means the boy did not love the experience of his “Papa’s

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