My Papas Waltz By Theodore Roethke

“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem written by Theodore Roethke that describes a childhood memory of a son and his father doing their nightly “waltz”. The poem portrays the traumatic memory using metaphors. For example, the waltzing that takes place actually symbolizes the abuse the child received from his father. At a glance, the poem seems to be about an innocent relationship between a father and son. However, the poem describes a traumatic flashback of a father abusing his son.
“My Papa’s Waltz” reflects the author’s childhood. The author’s father is represented as a drunk. “The whiskey on your breath// Could make a small boy dizzy;// But I hung on like death:// Such waltzing was not easy” (Roethke S1). The words small boy indicate that this happened during his childhood. Roethke remembers getting dizzy from his father’s whiskey
“My mother's countenance//Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke S2 L7-L8). His mother was disheartened by her husband’s actions. If it were a pleasant dance, the mother would be smiling, not frowning. The negative words used in the poem reflect the haunting childhood of Roethke.
Roethke remembers the beatings and describes them in the poem. “At every step you missed//My right ear scraped a buckle” (Roethke S3 L11-L12). Rather than talking about the steps in the waltz, the author uses that line to symbolize how his father missed when hitting him. The author recalls how every time his father missed, his ears would graze the belt. In this stanza, Roethke thinks back to how his intoxicated dad beat him.
“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem reflecting Roethke’s childhood. Roethke reminisces how his drunk father would mistreat him. He remembers his mother feeling saddened and powerless. Roethke even describes how he would cling on to his father as he hit him. Roethke wrote this poem as a young adult. He wrote this to express his emotions about his youth, feeling heavy hearted for his younger