The storyline of the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, goes way deeper than just dancing, but a negative vibe that shows abuse. For example, in the first stanza, it states, “The whiskey on your breath could make a young boy dizzy”. This explaining the man who is considered the papa, had too many drinks that would be considered drunk. Another line in the same stanza it says, “ But I hung on like death”. What person would be scared to dance with their father? Unless it wasn’t dancing and it was more than that. They say when a person is drunk they have no control on what they’re doing but they turned into a different person. No one hangs on like death when it’s only a parent. Meaning they’re not in the right state of mind. Furthermore,