“My Papa’s Waltz”, written by Theodore Roethke, has a negative tone because of the word choices and poetic elements within it. My Papa’s Waltz includes the line, “the whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy”, indirectly implies that the father is drunk and consequently clumsy. In the fifth line it says “we romped until the pans slid from the kitchen self”, which shows that they were causing a tumult of noise and dance. The boy says, “this waltzing was not easy” showing fear of getting hurt from his clumsy father. This is shown by the line, “still clinging to your shirt” which implies he feels scared of getting hurt so he holds onto his father. This tone of fear of a drunk dad makes this a negative poem because no child should
