Interpretation Of My Papa's Waltz By Roethke

Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that contradicts itself as a whole many times. When reading it, there are two contrasting ideas that can be visualized. He uses certain words that are playful while also using words that have a clearly negative connotation to tell this story between a father and son. Other times, there is ambiguity in the phrases he chooses. Even the rhythm of the poem can have different meanings to different people. It all depends on which words stand out to the reader.
One way the poem can be read, is positively. Words such as romped and waltzing. The word romped gives the imagery of happy dancing or frolicking. What I visualized was a boy dancing with his drunk father in a light heated way around the kitchen. The rhythm …show more content…
Other terms can completely contradict the positive images mentioned before. Words such as “death”, “battered”, and “beat”. Once you notice these words, the story of the poem can completely change to a drunk father coming home, grabbing his son, beating him, throwing pans around the kitchen, and then sending him off to bed. It contradicts the prior story of the waltzing. The writer’s word choice can change the poems message. In the beginning of the poem when the boy hangs on to his father “like death” it could mean that even though the son is going to be beaten, he still loves his father and wants to cling onto him. The word death is such a strong word. It could mean that he was clutching so strongly like a death grip, or it could mean the boy felt dead inside and was just merely hanging on his father. The author could have just said “I held on tightly” if he wanted to simply say he was holding onto his father. However, he used the word death. Death gives a major negative connotation. In the third stanza, his father is holding his wrist, and with each step he missed, the boy’s ear scraped a buckle. His father may be beating him, and is so drunk that when he misses a punch, he stumbles into the child and his belt scrapes his ear. Holding the boy’s wrist and holding his hand is an example of how just one word can change the picture. Holding the boy’s hand would seem caring, but holding onto his wrist …show more content…
Some phrases themselves can be taken two different ways. Both ways make equal sense, it isn’t an obvious negative or positive meaning. In the third stanza, when the belt scrapes the boy’s ear, could have opposite meanings compared on how you are reading the poem. If you are reading it in the more positive manner, it could simple be because the child is small and they are dancing together and as the father stumbles, his belt buckle scrapes the child’s ear. Then again, reading it in the negative light, as said before, could be read as the father beating his child and stumbling into him. Another ambiguous area is when he says his father “beat time” on his head. The word “beat” can instantly strike people as negative or abusive, but in musical terms, it is just the pace of a song. Depending on how someone pictures a waltz, this could be another ambiguity. I picture a waltz as light and close, while someone else may imagine the dance as slower, strict, or even sad. Overall, there are many ways that the words in this poem can be interpreted. “My Papa’s Waltz” was written using very specific and thought out words. Each word can mean different things to different readers. There is ambiguity in the poem. It is not just one straightforward message about a father and son. Some words can be taken positively and others, negatively. The rhythm can be ambiguous depending