Analyzing: My Papa`s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

By: Kimberly ZunigaChloe Carrere

My Papa’s WaltzThe 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 missedMy 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.

Biography• Theodore Roethke was born on May 25, 1908, in Saginaw, Michigan.• His uncle, his father and he owned and ran a 25-acre greenhouse where they spent most of

their time together. • His father was named Otto who was a German immigrant. • In 1923 problems aroused between Theodore’s father and uncle which led to the sell of the

green house.• Later in 1923 when Theodor was 14, his father died of cancer and then his uncle committed

suicide • Theodore was pressured to grow up fast to take care of his family .• He suffered from mental illness and was a heavy drinker. Theodore’s father was a drunk as

well.• In 1968 he suffered from a heart attack and died.• Although he was also very close to his uncle, Many of his poems are heavily inspired by his

father; he tends to use nature in many of his poems as a symbol of his dad and their green house .

Words you probably don’t know

• Countenance – a person`s facial expression• Romped – playing roughly and energetically • Battered – injured by repeated use or violence

Type of poem

• My Papa`s Waltz is a dramatic monologue. • Dramatic monologue – a lyric poem in which

the speaker tells an audience about a dramatic moment in his/her life and, in doing so, reveals his/her character.

EX: “The whiskey on your breath, could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death”

Meter of the poem

• My Papa`s Waltz is an iambic trimeter. • Iamb – unstressed to stressed • Instead of having five stressed syllables, It has

3 stressed syllables so it`s a trimeter.

Rhyme

• My Papa`s Waltz has a simple ABAB rhyme scheme. • Meaning, at the end of every other line in a stanza, there is a

rhyme. Some words almost rhyme but not exactly. • Rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhymes with a unit of verse; in

analysis each stanza ends rhyme-sound is represented by a letter.

• The words breath and death both rhyme. Dizzy and easy rhyme but not quite.

Rhyme Scheme continuedThe whiskey on your breath - ACould make a small boy dizzy; - BBut I hung on like death: - ASuch waltzing was not easy. - B

We romped until the pans - CSlid from the kitchen shelf; -DMy mother’s countenance -CCould not unfrown itself. - D

The hand that held my wrist - E Was battered on one knuckle; - F At every step you missed - EMy right ear scraped a buckle. - E

You beat time on my head - F With a palm caked hard by dirt, - G Then waltzed me off to bed - F Still clinging to your shirt. - G

Diction/tone

• The tone of this poem is negative. Roethke words of choice, or diction, is used to talk about how it was bad when his dad would drink and “waltz” around.

Diction/tone continued.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 missedMy 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.

1st Stanza

The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy.

• Introduced to a man who has a strong smell of whiskey.

• Roethke uses 1st person to show he is in the poem.

• When Roethke says “But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy” we interpret that he’s the young boy clinging to the man who smells of whiskeu.

2nd stanza

We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother’s countenance Could not unfrown itself.

• The man is Roethke’s father, who is a drunk.

• Roethke is playing around in the kitchen with his father, and the pans are sliding from the shelf, which does not make the mom happy

• The drinking is a problem and that’s why his mother’s face could not unfrown itself.

3rd stanza

The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missedMy right ear scraped a buckle.

• Roethke talks about his father’s hand being battered on one knuckle and people interpret it’s because of abuse he does to his family.

• But it’s actually from working in the greenhouse.

• “At every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle” interpretation is his father beating him.

• BUT his father is actually walking with his son and Roethke happens to scrape his ear on his dad’s buckle because he’s at the buckle’s height.

4th stanza

You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.

• “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt,” interpretation is the father, again, hitting Roethke.

• BUT it’s just the weight of his father’s hand on his head, that is caked hard by dirt from the greenhouse.

• “Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt” his father is carrying him to bed.

• Infer that he is a child by having his father carry him to bed

Theme• My Papa’s Waltz doesn’t have a specific theme. • One theme is of Roethke admiring his father as a child.• Although his dad drinks, he still clings to him as a child does when showing love for

their parent. • EX: “But I hung on like death” “Then waltzed me off to bed, Still clinging to your shirt” • Another theme is the complexity of the father/son relationship. • The father in the house is shown as being masculine and tough, like most fathers

are portrayed. The son is shown as a child, children are portrayed with innocence and being weak.

• EX: “The hand that held my wrist, was battered on one knuckle” • “The whiskey on your breath, could make a small boy dizzy”

Playful on negative words• Roethke uses negative meaning words to describe his dad’s actions or to

describe his dad. • He uses the word battered to describe his dad’s knuckle. When people

think battered, it’s usually heard in violence terms. But his dad’s battered knuckles got that way when he was working in their greenhouse.

• “But I hung on like death” Roethke uses death to express how he’s clinging to his father and not letting go. Roethke uses this expression to also represent his father’s death and not being able to let go of his father.

• “ You beat time on my head” beat has a negative meaning behind it, when you are beaten by someone (abuse).

• But Roethke uses beat to describe the weight of his father’s hand on his head when his dad pats Roethke on the head.

Waltz meter

• In My Papa’s Waltz the first few lines in stanza one use the meter of a waltz.

• Waltzing is supposed to be light and pleasant, but the whiskey and dizziness tell of his father being drunk.

• The meter of a waltz is ¾ meter. The first half of the poem uses a waltz meter of ¾ .

• Roethke’s father although is missing steps in his “waltz”.. • But as his father is drunk, he is messing up the waltz meter. • Roethke also uses the waltz to show his father is missing

steps, stumbling, but it’s a dance just like the waltz is.

Conceit• Conceit- an extended metaphor comparing two unlike things.• My Papa’s Waltz uses the Waltz as the extended metaphor to

his father’s drunken stumbling. • The waltz is supposed to be swift, simple, and fun. • Roethke uses the waltz to compare to his father’s drunken

missed steps. • When someone is drunk, they tend to not walk so straight,

stumble on things, and romp around.

The End.