Abstract

This My Papa’s Waltz analysis essay examines the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke published in 1942.  It provides a summary of the poem, describing the action of what takes place; it then gives an analysis of the work, discusses the characters and the main theme of the poem; and finally provides an assessment of the poem’s use of imagery and symbolism.  The essay shows that Roethke’s poem is, ultimately, an ode to his father’s merriment and should be considered as an affectionate recollection of the author’s childhood rather than a stern rebuke full of resentment that some readers might be tempted to take it for.

Introduction

Theodore Roethke’s 16-line, 4 stanza poem tells the story of a small boy’s father waltzing him to bed.  The father is a laborer—a working class man—whose breath smells of whiskey.  The father joyfully—and with much romping—drunkenly dances with his son, clearly in a good mood thanks to the spirits he has imbibed.  The mother stands off and frowns—particularly because the romping is creating so much commotion that the dishes in the kitchen are falling from their places.  The big man of a father is oblivious to the displeasure of the mother as well as the nervousness of the boy, who is essentially clinging to his father for dear life as the big man whirls about.  It is a lively and affectionate short poem—a glimpse into the living room of a family where, for a brief moment, a burst of joyful, drunken energy possesses Papa and carries both him and the boy, through whose eyes the scene is told, off to bed.  This article will summarize the poem, provide a brief analysis, describe the characters, identify the main theme of the poem, and discuss elements of imagery and symbolism.

Summary

The poem is told in the first person to the father, who is addressed in the second person “you” as though the poem were written as a kind of love letter or ode to Papa.  It begins not with a description of the father’s appearance, his occupation, or his ideas—but rather with a description of the man’s breath—it smells of whiskey.  This is the type of thing that a boy would notice and remember:  the strong odor of alcohol on the breath of the merry man.

The odor, so typically associated with drunkenness and full of negative connotations, is not linked to anything negative in this particular poem.  On the contrary, the odor is almost like the smell of incense at a religious rite announcing something positive about to take place.  Here the odor announces that a special waltz is underway.  The whiskey loosens up the father’s limbs and puts him in a festive mood.  The boy is there and serves as a good enough partner and thus hangs “on like death” because dancing with his father in this manner “was not easy.”

Indeed, it is not even much of a dance that they are doing:  the author describes it more as a romp, which raises such a ruckus that it shakes the walls and clamors the pots.  This disturbance evokes a negative reaction from the mother, who would prefer peace and quiet in her home—but her approach to a bedtime routine is likely different from the father’s.

From the odor of the man’s breath, to the fact that he and the boy are engaged in a waltz, to a description of the larger room and the mother observing from aside, the poem now returns to an up close and personal description of the action:  the father’s hand, the boy’s wrist, the man’s knuckle and step, the boy’s ear and the man’s buckle.  These minute details bring the reader back in tight and close once more.  After getting a quick spin around the room, the reader is pulled back to the main source of action.

The meter of the poem is then represented by the father’s keeping of time by beating on the boy’s head with his dirt-caked palm, which indicates that the man is a laborer of some kind.  Then the theme of waltzing returns as the boy is literally waltzed off to bed while clinging to his father’s shirt.

Analysis

The use of the first and second person pronouns makes the poem particularly affectionate.  This is an intimate use of terms:  the author is speaking to his father, writing as an adult—a grown man himself—but reflecting on the past and speaking to Papa (itself an affectionate term for father) in a familiar manner.  However, one of the troubling aspects of the poem for readers is the tension created by the description of the father’s whiskey-breath, the rough-house nature of the dance, the disapproval of the mother, and the momentary fear of the boy, which mingles with enthusiasm for the waltz itself. 

As Fong (1990) points out, the poem holds “fear and joy in tension” as the action contains a “mixture of tenderness and brutality” (p. 79).  Yet, by placing too much emphasis on “brutality,” the reader risks missing the real meaning in the poem—love between a father and son.  From the child’s perspective, for instance, there is no real sense of brutality—rather there is the simple articulation of the facts:  the father’s keeping time on the boy’s head feels like a beating, but of course it is not; it is just a measure of the distance between the size of the man and the size of the child.  Tenderness and affection permeates the poem in both directions.  The father feels tenderly and affectionate towards the boy—and the boy, though somewhat frightened and also in awe of his father in the moment, looks back on the episode as the adult poet with great fondness, appreciation, humor, and delight.  It is an affectionate ode to Roethke’s...
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By the end of the poem, the comic and tragic tension is resolved:  a colloquial connotation is applied to “waltz” as the boy is waltzed off to bed by his father, which clearly situates the poem in an overall comic disposition.  The comedic nature of the scene is what stands out and this is what the poet purposefully emphasizes with fondness for his father, who is specifically addressed in the poem’s first line by the adult narrator looking back in time.

Theme

The theme of the poem is unity.  It is an awkward unity that is depicted in the poem—but there it is nonetheless:  the union of the father and son, bonding by way of a drunken waltz initiated by the happy father who picks up the boy for a dance before bed.  The dance is the father’s way of sashaying the boy off to bed.  Anyone who has raised children knows that getting them to bed is one of the most difficult tasks to perform—mainly because children hate more than anything having to go to bed.  The father, perhaps knowing this, in his wisdom hits upon a better way to get the boy to bed:  waltzing him there with a merry, lively, drunken dance in which the boy is not quite sure of the outcome—i.e., whether he will live or die before it is over.  For that reason, the child clings to the father’s shirt.  Rather than running away or complaining because it is bed time, he is

Characters

The characters of the poem are three:  the father, the boy, and the mother.  The boy narrates the poem.  The father is the receiver of the poem—it is narrated to him.  The mother is described only briefly, the way a camera at a ballgame might pan up to the crowd for a moment to show the faces of those watching the ballgame before cutting back to the field where the action is.  She is not part of the dance—only an onlooker.

As the main characters are the father and the boy, and it is from the boy’s perspective that the poem is told, it is fair to say that the poem is ultimately about the relationship of the boy and the father.  However, the title indicates that it is mainly about the father’s approach to parenting, which is lovingly described with a great deal of authenticity.  The poem is “told” to the father, which makes it an affectionate work that does not shy away from the realities of what it’s like to be part of a family.

Imagery

The main image evoked is the image of the drunken father and the son made dizzy.  Dizziness is a symptom commonly associated with drunkenness—so the image that is created is one in which father and son are joined as one.  One is dizzy because of drink; the other is dizzy because of the odor of the drink as well as because he is being whirled about the room as the partner in his father’s dance.  They are engaged in a waltz, with the father leading the way—and in a dance two partners join as one.  Thus, the father and son are united in a fine image under three different conditions:  the effects of whiskey (though it impacts each differently), the effects of dizziness (though each is dizzy differently), and the dance (though the father is doing most of the dancing, for the son is essentially holding on for dear life).

The union of father and son is comically mismatched.  The father’s size dominates the small boy.  Instead of holding hands, as true dancers should, the father holds the boy by the wrist.  Instead of being face to face, the boy barely reaches the man’s waist and—as a result—he is constantly getting scratched by the man’s buckles.  The father is not quite in sync (because of the drink), and…