My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Rothke

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a short poem about a drunken father dancing with his small child. This poem could be interpreted in two ways: a drunk father scaring a small child, or a father who is doting on their small child. My first reading of this poem made me think how awful, a drunk father swinging his small son around in some sort of drunken dance that the child has no part being in nor wants to be a part of. After this feeling goes away and you read it a few more times you begin to ignore the heft of the first line:

 “The whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy”

And just focus on the fact that a father is lovingly dancing with his child. I suppose the real meaning of this poem is what kind of a drunk the father was. I know some people who are not the most pleasant to be around after they have been drinking whiskey, but I also know some people who become big loving teddy bears after imbibing in a few shots of the stuff. If this father was the former type of drunk, I could see how this would be a terrifying experience for the child. However if the father was the latter type of drunk this could be a memory cherished by the child for a lifetime. I recall being at a family reunion when I was quite small and my father took me on the top of his shoes and taught me how to dance a little bit. I will not kid myself, I am aware that all of the adults were drinking during that party and depending on how late in the evening the dancing started some of them could have been quite drunk! But this is a memory I will not forget. I was sitting on his lap listening to the music, he let me have a sip of his beer, I hated it. He finished up his conversation and set me down on the ground while simultaneously taking my hands and lifting me so my feet were on top of his.

               

                I hope that this is the type of memory that Mr. Roethke was hoping to conjure up in the reader’s imagination, not of some type of drunken half brawl, half forced dance. If some of the words were changed slightly then this sunny memory could quickly turn into a dark memory one would soon hope to forget.