My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke: Response

The poet, Theodore Roethke, develops the ironic tone through the use of structure, poetic devices, characterization and sickening images masked under a joyful dance in the poem My Papa’s Waltz. The poem is made up of a strict and definite structure which classifies the events within the poem as normal and ordinary. It flows like the dance that covers the pain of a broken family beneath and helps the son get through them to refer to something as horrific as a waltz that is “not easy.” An event so extreme as abusing a child should appear disorganized and chaotic, but as it appears quite normal in this poem contributes to the upsetting tone.

Further supporting the idea that the beatings are ordinary in that family are the poetic devices Roethke uses. The phrase “beat time on my head” initially refers to the counting of music when dancing but the underlying meaning of the word ‘beat’ actually refers to the physical abuse the speaker endures from his father. The simile that the boy “hung on like death” exposes the brutalities of abuse and readers are able to feel for the speaker.

The characterization of the father “caked hard by dirt” with “whisky on [his] breath” from the speakers view helps to portray his father as a dirty drunk in order to grab the readers empathy. Worse yet, the description of his mother, whose facial expression “could not unfrown itself” contributes to the ordinary tone as she appears to be weak and sad but has given up on trying to stop the beatings. The images that Roethke creates with her use of poetic devices and characterization are very disturbing and would give any reader goose bumps. Readers are able to feel the pain the boy endures throughout this poem through images such as “[his] right ear scraped a buckle” and are able to hear the beatings as “[they] romped” around together as the “pans slid from the kitchen shelf.”

This poem is so graphic and sickening that it draws readers in and with its pains of abuse masked under the image of ordinary, the uneasy tone explores the possibilities of realities hidden among family through structure, poetic devices, characterization and images.