My Papa Waltz

Irony, Symbolism, and Imagery in “My Papa’s Waltz” In the poem “My Papa Waltz” Written by Theodore Roethke, a young child is running around the house following and playing with the drunkard of a dad. The child can smell the whiskey on his breath but continues to cling tightly as the child does not want to stop playing. This scuffling shakes and rattles the pans in the kitchen frustrating the mom as she is annoyed with her drunk of a husband. Bedtime has approached so the child is then carried to bed still clinging to the fathers’ shirt. Roethke uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to portray how forgiving a child’s love can be. Irony is used in this piece with the impression that the words “waltz” will be used to describe a dance the father is doing but it is learned this waltz the dad is performing is the drunken stagger throughout the house. It is learned that the father is a drunk when Roethke states,
The whisley on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy. (Roethke 1-4) This child disregards the smell of whiskey and chases behind clinging
This element is used to demonstrate how even upmost betrayal from a child’s very own parent does not deter a child’s love. Throughout the poem the father is known to be drunkenly waltzing around the house with no interference from the wife, the only acknowledgment is gotten when the pans are rattled from the shelves. The child states, “The hand that held my wrist/ Was battered on one knuckle…” (Roethke 9-10). Here it is realized that the silence of the mother is due to avoiding getting hit by her husband. Yet the hands used to batter the wife are used to lead the innocent child, symbolizing how the child waltzes with the dad with no fear of the father’s capabilities. Roethke uses symbolism to show that even though the father is abusive the child is mindlessly content following in those staggered