My Papa's Waltz Essay

682 Words3 Pages
Assignment Essay For: Senior Professor: Rose Vydeligum By: Martin Laster-Torres Studies in Poetry LTRE 427 DeVry University 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. Theodore Roethke RHYME, ALLITERATION, METER As I reading and listening the poem, I do not see but a child memories of what it seems a regular routine with his father of dancing and then, taken to bed. I do not sense abuse like others might feel about it. Even the title tells me that the child loves his father (My Papa’s Waltz) To me the term “papa” is a representation of tender love not hate toward his dad. When I continue reading the poem in the second stanza we see that his dad did not just lifted him and put him back down quickly, he danced until he probably felt too dizzy that started to hit the kitchen shelves and pans were knockdown making the child mother frown because she did not liked that or maybe she was worry for the child (not sure). Roethke is describing a hardworking man that he lost at the age of 15. His family had their own greenhouse where his papa must likely work hence the reason for his father to have battered knuckles. Obviously when Roethke smelled his dad breath he knew that he was a little drunk yet he does not run away from him on the contrary he hold tight in case he miss a step. He probably placed his feet on his father’s shoes and prepare for the waltz. To me the child love this moment so much that he does not let

More about My Papa's Waltz Essay

Open Document