“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

First, the boy is describing how strong the smell of whiskey on the breath of his father. Then he explains how tightly he was holding on because to him waltzing was not easy. They weren’t moving very carefully, because he explains that while they were dancing they were knocking over pans from the kitchen shelf. His mother showed an expression of concern with her frown, showing that she might not have been too thrilled with this idea. While the father was holding his son's hands, the boy took notice into the condition of his father’s knuckle, describing it a little bruised or beaten up. Then he described the pain that he was given every time he missed a step, and the belt buckle would scrape him. With his fathers dirty hands he roughly touched his son's head. Then once they were done, his father took him to bed.

What the boy is describing isn’t an actual waltz. He is portraying the beating that he received whole his father was drunk. He describes how much he drank based on the smell that came from his mouth. There was so much commotion going that they were even knocking over the pans in the kitchen. When he describes the look on his mother’s face, she was mortified on what was going on because it hurt her so much. His father’s knuckles were probably beaten up from the amount of times that he beat his son. He was probably also somewhat beaten by a belt when he says that it “scraped” him. His father probably had some type of dirty work, leading his hands to be in the filthy condition that they were in. When his father was done beating him, he would drag him to bed, while his son would beg him to stop the torture. I think that the author sets off both a humorous, but serious tone in this story. This is shown in the third line of the poem because he uses the word death. He is trying to show how serious this was, but also trying to use it in a way that shows it can be used in different forms, based on the context. It also seems like he is using a humorous tone, when you first read it because you first wonder if he is actually talking about a waltz; if he is, why use suck dramatic terms. The title first gave me a feeling that this would be an enjoyable poem that described its actual name, but in actuality, it described the complete opposite. The author did a great job of using symbolism to describe something significant.