Theodore Roethke: The Negative Father

The Negative Father Figure Many things could come to mind when someone thinks of memories. Some could be memories that will stick forever, then others could be memories that someone would never want to remember. In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz” the speaker is telling one of his memories from his childhood with his father. The poem does, in fact, show a couple positive memories but in this case, the bad outweighs the good. Although some may believe it is a positive memory, there is more evidence in the poem that shows why it is a negative memory for Roethke. First off, Children want to have good memories from their childhood with their mother and father. But sadly this is not the case in Roethke’s poem. According to the poem, “The whiskey on your breath/ could make a small boy dizzy” (1-2). Here the speaker is referring to his father. Presumably, the speaker is saying in these lines that his father is heavily drunk and the smell could make a small boy feel faint. No child wants to have memories of one of their parents coming home drunk and smelling of such a strong odor of alcohol Meanwhile, later into the poem, “We romped until the pans/ slid from the shelf/ My mother’s countenance/ could not unfrown itself” (5-8). In these lines, the father and son were waltzing clumsily
In this line, the speaker uses the word “beat.” In these lines, this shows the father’s physical abusive nature and roughness towards the boy since he is drunk. This would be a negative memory for his son since his father is “beating” on his head. But in the last two lines of that same stanza, the speakers says “then waltzed me off to bed/ still clinging to your shirt” (15-16). In these two lines, the speakers tell about a positive memory. It shows a bond between the father and the son because the boy must actually love his father since he is clinging to his shirt as he takes him to