Theodore Roethke, one of the most influential poets of the postmodern era, composed the piece, “My Papa’s Waltz” in 1948. He surfaced feelings of insecurity, constraint, and hesitation within his majestic writings, differing from other modernist poets. Roethke was nothing short of an award-winning idol to many, and still continues to carry that identity today. Reading through the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” we cannot help but ignore that he gave descriptive imagery of playful roughhousing that could be quickly escalated to abuse. 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. In the first stanza, in my perspective, I can interpret that the whiskey on a man’s breath was so intense that it was nauseating, making even one who isn’t under-the-influence become struck the alcohol’s repercussions. The man tried act as though he was sober, but couldn’t obtain his drunkenness, restricting him from waltzing. In the second stanza, we can see a playful dance be turned into an unconscious physical battering with his mother. The detail in this section of the poem indicated that when “the pans slid from the kitchen shelf,” that is wasn’t just a hissy fit, but an aggressive maltreatment. In the third stanza, it is being written in the mother’s perspective about the physical aspect and wounds the woman endured. “The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle” shows how distinctly the mother remembers the fight and will probably remember for the rest of her life. Her anxiety is brought out in the next couple lines of the poem, being able to tell the thoughts that were rushing through her head in the time of the crime. The poem abruptly ends by the man walking the mother to bed, perceiving that he wants normality to be prevalent.
2 Comments
Regina Tantlinger
10/6/2019 03:45:29 pm
Great insight into the poem. I also wrote about this poem, but I differed slightly by saying that it is maybe just a playful scene. You make a good arguement about how it is an abusive man in this poem. Enjoyed reading it.
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Katie A
10/6/2019 06:33:16 pm
I absolutely loved your reading of this poem. Initially, I read the poem in a similar way. The way you broke down the poem stanza-by-stanza was very well done. I enjoyed reading, short and to the point. Stunning.
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