“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is the second poem that was studied. The poem tells about a young boy clinging to his father as the two of them ramble throughout the house until the father puts the boy to bed. Visual imagery is used when Roethke writes, “I hung on like death/ such waltzing was not easy” (3-4). This gives me an image of a young boy clinging to his father’s waist, even as the father loses his balance, drunk from whiskey. I think this poem is about a young boy whose father comes home drunk and while the boy clings to his father, his father is careless, causing the boy to get hurt. The poem is a bit vague, as the words can be interpreted in different ways. When it says, “my mother’s countenance/ could not unfrown itself,”
