In this poem the tone of the speaker is characterized by the deep devotion and love he felt towards his father during his youth. Looking back on the time his father spent playing with him when he was a child, the speaker describes “[hanging] on like death” and “clinging to [his] shirt” (Roethke 3,16). These childlike descriptions show that the speaker felt a deep devotion to his father and had a loving relationship with him. The terms “hanging on” and “clinging” both signify the tone of loving dependence of child to father. This reliance on his father developed by the theme gives way to a deeper understanding of the son, and how no matter
how much his breath smells like whiskey and how rough his hands are, he will continue to cling on to his father whom he loves and admires. The speaker’s tone dives into his feelings of devotion and love towards his father. Alongside the speaker’s tone of love, he also intertwines a feeling of concern and uneasiness towards the situation with his father. While he loves his father, the speaker shows that at the time, he felt a degree of uneasiness while dancing with his father. When describing that his “mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself” the speaker’s tone becomes concerned about his mother’s approval of their roughhousing (Roethke 7-8). Although the child deeply loves his father, the concerned tone shows his discomfort caused by the smell of the whiskey, his ear getting scraped and his worry about his mother’s opinion of them romping around the kitchen before his bedtime. Understanding that the speaker’s tone ropes together love and concern towards his father demonstrates that the child’s situation is multidimensional and can not be understood at first glance.