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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.
Theodore Roethke
| Submitted Date |
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Friday, January 03, 2003 |
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Read poems about / on: mother, death, time
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Comments about this poem (My Papa's Waltz
by
Theodore Roethke
) |
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Francis Perez (1/5/2012 7:01:00 PM)
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... This poem is actually not meant to have any dark or abusive meaning to it... In fact, it's supposed to mean the following:
It is about, likely a small boy, waltzing with his father. Hence, the title, waltz. Also, papa is a term of endearment to one's father. If the dad were hurting and abusing the child, then you would not call him by that name. The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle suggests that the dad had been hurt at some point, and his drinking is likely due to the fact that he is undergoing difficult times. He is likely drinking because of his issues, but the son/daughter, up to your own interpretation, accepts this and still clings on to his shirt, despite The whiskey on your breath. Furthermore, romping is a term for rough play, or energetic play, look it up if you wish. The 2nd stanza merely means that they were dancing roughly and playing around in the kitchen, causing pans to fall from the kitchen shelf, much to the disapproval of the son/daughter's mother at her kitchen being destroyed. The person is likely dancing on the father's feet, so at every step that he missed because of his drunkenness, the right ear of the boy was scraped against the papa's belt buckle. You beat time on my head just indicates that the father was patting the boy's head as if it were a drum, playing around with him, and then took his son to bed. If this were abuse, the son would not be still clinging to your shirt. And he would not hung on like death. It was just a father and son, in my opinion a son, waltzing and roughly playing around, and although the dad is drunk and can slightly hurt his child, the son still understands his trouble and is grateful that he spends time with him.
This is of course open to discussion. But I just wanted to present my opinion, and my reasoning behind it, as there is ample evidence suggesting that the father was not abusing his son/daughter.
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Eric Dearmin (12/1/2011 5:26:00 PM)
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I don't know how this could possibly be anything other than abuse. The tone in the story is so dreary that it has to be abuse. 'My mother's countenance could not unfrown itself' That must be the mother's disapproval of the beating. If that doesn't convince you then how about, ' my right ear scraped a buckle.' This must be his father beating him with a belt.
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Jun Kim (7/16/2010 11:29:00 PM)
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I think that the boy actually die. the poem certainly have dark imagery. i really think people can sense dark imagery in this poem and feel something bad and scary. i wonder how people think this poem is innocent when it is clearly not. all of you guys who said that it is innocent ignored about the foreshadowing. 'but i hug on like death' the boy is probably abused but i think he died and the ghost is telling the story. was batered on one knuckle is cleary a blood imagery and i can cleary see somethin abd happen and in the end it said the the father waltzed him off to bed still clnging to your shirt. it can also mean that the father sent the boy to a death bad while the boy is trying cling his father shirt which he is trying to cling life. there is proof to support that but i saw tons of people interpret this poem in many different ways. but what to you guys think. there is proof to supprt though.
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Matthew Kang (2/12/2010 10:32:00 AM)
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I think that the poem is actually a girl because it said that it could make a boy dizzy but not the speaker. I think that implies that the speaker is a girl. It could give a negative or positive outlook. It could be that the father is abusing the girl because of his drinking habit. It also could be that the father is having fun with the girl even though he drank.
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Keturah Hass (1/25/2010 3:57:00 PM)
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When I read this poem I get the thought of an unpleased little boy who is unhappy with how much his dad drinks alcohol. It states that the fathers breath reaked like alcohol so much that the little boy couldn't handle it and it made him dizzy. I find it very hard to see that it is just a father and son having fun together and having what you call play time. The little boy was used to his father drinking, but did not know how to deal with it. And even though his father drinks, they are still very close. The little boy would not clinge to his shirt unless he trusted his father. I believe that the boy is very confused, loves his daddy very much but doesn't know how to get it through to him, that him getting drunk so bad to where he reaks of alcohol hurts him very much.
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Mimi Brown (7/25/2009 7:12:00 AM)
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This poem is not about abuse, but a childhood memory captured at a later time in life. Daddy, like most dads at the time probably worked in the new world of the industrial revolution, where most men worked six days a week,12 hours a day. Payday was usually Saturday night and most men stopped by their local bar on the way home to remove the grit of poor working conditions from their throats before going home to give their wives the rest of their wages. The mother of the poem isn't upset at the the roughness of the dance, but the truth of it being the day before the Sabbath. She has most likely spent her week cooking, cleaning and raising the children. Sunday is her only respite from the constant grueling work of her 12 hour day too. And now after the dance she must repurify the house for the holy day. As for the child, he is pleased to finally see his father after the long week and a whiskery whiskey dance is most likely the only true physical contact these two have. It is a true depiction of a shared realistic moment of joy.
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Wispe Decoteau (6/22/2009 9:23:00 AM)
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many ppl think that Roethke was abused. ther was a big dissusion in my class about that. but i dont belive so becuz compared to other poems i think the father in his poems are playing have fun with his son. this shows that he wasnt an absentee father like many other poems portray fathers to be.
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Anne Rhitak (1/27/2009 7:48:00 PM)
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I love Roethke's work, it is so abstract much of the time.
However, in this poem, it is not about abuse at all. Like Mr. Crouch said, a drink or two before bed in the early 1900s was exceedingly common, which would explain, 'The whiskey on your breath.' As well, his references to the father and how he 'beat time on my head' are not abusive, it shows that his father is a character that does not how to be gentle, but tries. This is supported by the description of 'a palm caked hard by dirt' and how the father's hand 'was battered on one knuckle.'
The mother's frowning countenance is merely her way of expressing her disapproval at their noisy romp about the house.
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Justin Crouch (5/18/2008 9:51:00 PM)
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There is no way that Theodore Roethke was abused. This is a fond memory that he has, and has expressed for the world to see. Drinking before bed, but not getting hammered was a common thing back in the early 1900's.
It is however, quite possible that Otto Roethke wanted to tire out the boy, and get him to bed. There is noting about abuse in this at all.
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Menaly Diietz (3/24/2007 9:38:00 AM)
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Theodore Roethke is one of my favorite poets and although the poem seems to confuse people, it is clearly about children abusing their parents. This child does not want to go to bed, and his father tired and battered from work, and also a little drunk, is dancing with the kid to tire him out. The mother is extremely unhappy about this situation because of the mess the two are making.
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