My Papa's Waltz Diction

While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to describe the relationship between him and his father, and a memory they shared together. Roethke made the poem sound as if had two completely different meaning behind it. For example, it can mean that a father and his child are horsing around before bedtime or it can mean that an intoxicated father abuses his child. He wanted to see what us, the audience, had to say when reading the poem.
Naturally, the use of imagery in the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is an emotional memory that the author experiences with his father late at night. To understand it more clear , take note from the title. It’s his father's waltz not his dance, he’s only along for the ride. Each stanza presents a different part of his father's dance. In the first stanza , it talks about whiskey on his breath which means his father is an alcoholic and was intoxicated while he picked up his son then began to dance. The smell is the first sense that is noticed , the sour smell of whiskey reeks from his father. His son …show more content…
The key to his sons fear has come out with the description that he had to hang on for his dear life as his father madly prancing around the kitchen. He then tells the reader that dancing with his father was not an easy thing to do. That can also represent how dysfunctional the family is because they’re dancing in the kitchen knocking over appliances to the ground. Also, by his father being intoxicated is messing up the time they spend as a family, it ends up being unpleasant for