My Papa's Waltz Interpretation

The True Meaning of “My Papa’s Waltz” The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” can affect the reader in two different ways; Some may see the child and father playing roughly, while others may see the father as being abusive toward his child. “Theodore Roethke, the author of “My Papa’s Waltz”, Was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan and sometimes went back to draw inspiration for his poems” (Zande 34). The poem is about a father and son “Waltzing” around the house. It starts out as a son smells the scent of whiskey on his father’s breath. The poem goes on to speak about the father and son “romping” until the pans fell off the shelf and the mother looking on with a frown. In the third and fourth stanzas the boy talks about his ear scraping his fathers belt …show more content…
All of these scenes happen before the child is ultimately taken off to bed (Roethke 1-16) The interpretation of “My Papa’s Waltz” can be stirred by the poems diction, the poems connotation, and the authors tone.
The diction used by Roethke can give “My Papa’s Waltz” two conflicting meanings, people usually interpret the poem in two completely different ways. As said by Ronald Janssen “The central impact of Theodore Roethke’s lyric “My Papa’s Waltz” derives from the tension arising from the various implications of the title image, and especially of the readings that can be given to the word “Waltz”. We must begin with the literal meaning, of course, but the image of the formal, stately movements we normally associate with the waltz are modified and extended as we move through the poem.” (Janssen 43). In saying this Janssen shows how people may depict the poem in contrasting ways. In the beginning of the poem Roethke writes, “The Whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy;” (Roethke 1-2). This could illustrate two things, the father has just had a drink …show more content…
Through the whole poem the tone shifts, making the reader second guess if the term “waltz” is being used in a playful way or in a violent way. As best said by Ronald Janssen, “By the end of the poem the word “waltz” has taken on several other tones and association.” (Janssen 43). This statement insists that the word waltz is not only talking about dancing but that there is more of a fiery side to the word. The violent part of the word “waltz” is shown in the lines, “You beat time on my head / with a palm caked hard by dirt, / Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt.” (Roethke 13-16). These lines in the poem do not have a happy tone or feel to them in my opinion, they actually seem as if the child is so beaten down that he is holding on tightly to his father’s shirt while he is being “waltzed” off to bed. The child seems to be desperate and distraught because of the beating he has just seemed to have