This is one of my favorite poems. Roethke (the author)
vividly captures the joyful bond between father and
son.
The father and son in "My Papa's Waltz" have a close
relationship. The father is a blue collar worker, someone who works hard with his
hands; his knuckle is scraped and his hands are caked with dirt from his day's
labors.
The son clearly feels his father's belt buckle
scraping his ear as he "hangs on for dear life," romping (a lively
word describing the playing of youngsters) in a waltz with his father—while his mother
frowns at the pans rattling off the shelf. (However, we don't get the idea that she is
really angry.) The boy even smells the whiskey on his dad's breath:
perhaps from stopping for a drink on his way home from a long day at
work.
The boy loves this time with his father: perhaps they
don't have much opportunity to do this kind of thing, with dad coming home late and
bedtime looming for the boy—this is what may make is so memorable for the son. And it is
a memory that stays with him long after his childhood years have passed. The father
beats the rhythm of the waltz on his son's head as they dance, bringing a sense of
movement to the verse. The poem ends as the father waltzes his son off to bed, with the
boy "...still clinging to [his] shirt."
The mood of the
poem is positive and joyful, and with the imagery provided, we know the son and father
enjoy each other's company greatly. The imagery and the sense of playful dancing before
bed allow this sense of joy to come through to the reader, along with a sense of
nostalgia from the now-grown son, who we can assume is the author of the
poem.
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