My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke

My Papa's Waltz

by Theordore Roethke

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.

I am surprised that I had not posted this poem years ago--it is one of my favorites, a poem I can remember reading for the first time and discussing in a college classroom. The gist of the discussion was to decipher the tone of the speaker--was this poem a sad look at a boy being beaten by a drunk father or a nostalgic memory of a drunk father lovingly dancing with his son? In other words, is the waltz of the title a dance or a metaphor?

This was back in the day of New Criticism's close reading, which certainly has its flaws. But one of its major positive traits is to read a poem and not insert your own experience/mood/ attitude/etc. into the poem. I remember the professor telling us that part of the genius of Roethke's poem was that he wrote the poem in such a way that it can be read as either a dance or a metaphor.

I agree to that genius assessment, but there is a lot more to be impressed by here. Roethke manages to convey so much with so few words, in 4 short stanzas, and using a strict true (mostly) rhyme scheme. And he made it all look easy! Knuckle and buckle--I don't believe I have ever seen those words used in a poem before or since, but they are so natural here. Plus, there is so much movement in this poem--you were picturing everything as you read it, weren't you?

This poem is an American classic, and probably one of the best known poems of the 20th century. If you ever want to see smart, well-read folks argue about a poem, I would suggest showing them this one.