My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke
"My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke is a four quatrain poem written in iambic trimeter. The rhyme scheme present is abab, cdcd, efef, and ghgh. In the poem, the son is remembering a time when his father, who was excessively drunk at the time, carrying him through the kitchen off to bed. It was a rough, almost abusive, journey though because his father, who is already drunkenly waltzing him, is probably not used to handling things with care at work since his hands are described as "caked hard by dirt" and "battered on one knuckle". The speaker in the poem, the son, is clearly holding onto this memory of his father for whatever reason: maybe he died early, was working all the time, or abandoned the family. To understand the depth of Roethke's
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If we look closely, there is a deeper, more loving tone in the speaker's voice for his father. We can tell by looking at the vocabulary and syntax used in the poem. Referring to his father as "Papa" automatically gives away that the boy still loves father because papa was an affectionate term used by innocent young boys at the time. The boy also uses terms like waltzing, romped, slid, and clinging to suggest the situation was more playful than violent. For example, Roethke could have said that the pans fell or dropped from the kitchen shelf but he went with slid to make the effects of the scene less drastic. Another example would be "the hand that held my wrist". If the Roethke truly intended for it to be abusive, much stronger language would have been chosen over held. In fact, one could argue that this ritual between the father and the speaker is routine seeing as the mother was doing nothing to prevent any harm from coming to her son. She was quite possibly only frowning because of the big mess in the kitchen. My theory would be is that the boy is stuck at home all day with no father because he as hard at work all day, hence the rough and "battered" hands. The father comes home and immediately unwinds by having a few whiskey drinks. Therefore the only fun and interaction the speaker can have with his father is this troublesome, playful waltz about going to bed on time. Roethke desires to be with
If we look closely, there is a deeper, more loving tone in the speaker's voice for his father. We can tell by looking at the vocabulary and syntax used in the poem. Referring to his father as "Papa" automatically gives away that the boy still loves father because papa was an affectionate term used by innocent young boys at the time. The boy also uses terms like waltzing, romped, slid, and clinging to suggest the situation was more playful than violent. For example, Roethke could have said that the pans fell or dropped from the kitchen shelf but he went with slid to make the effects of the scene less drastic. Another example would be "the hand that held my wrist". If the Roethke truly intended for it to be abusive, much stronger language would have been chosen over held. In fact, one could argue that this ritual between the father and the speaker is routine seeing as the mother was doing nothing to prevent any harm from coming to her son. She was quite possibly only frowning because of the big mess in the kitchen. My theory would be is that the boy is stuck at home all day with no father because he as hard at work all day, hence the rough and "battered" hands. The father comes home and immediately unwinds by having a few whiskey drinks. Therefore the only fun and interaction the speaker can have with his father is this troublesome, playful waltz about going to bed on time. Roethke desires to be with