Roethke

In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" you can since the affects the boy's father has had on him. You can take each of these stanzas and break them down and still have the same results. It seems as if an alcoholic father is once again after his boy for who knows what. The boy then seems to "waltz" with his father, he is trying to get away from the rage of his father. They take this so called waltz through the house (kitchen). Once he is finally caught he gets a belt up side the head. Then the waltz is started again as father takes him to bed at the sons objection.

I do not know of Roethke's background, but it must have been a world of alcoholic dad, mother who does not interject and abuse.

My Papa's Waltz
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.



Not the image I picture after reading this poem.

CJ