“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a symbolic poem of love and fear. From a negative perspective, a reader may convey that the father is abusive and the young boy is searching for approval and love. From a positive perspective, it can be argued that “still clinging to your shirt” translates to the young boy not wanting to go to bed and instead have fun and dance with his father. From the poem’s word choice, it is evident that the speaker is an adult reminiscing on their childhood. Roethke’s poem is interesting as well as mind-boggling. We can see fear injected in the boy when he is dancing with his father and a little nervous about getting roughed up. However, towards the end we can also see the love the boy has for his father. Despite
