What is the story of this poem?

Question

"my papa's waltz"
The whiskey on your breath
could make a small boy dizzy;
But i hung on like death:
Such waltzing is 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.

Answer 1

I found some links online:
* http://wordgasm.com/blog/the-paradox-of-my-papas-waltz

* http://www.constant-content.com/article/23214/The-Drunken-Dance--My-Papas-Waltz
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Summary: This piece is a review/analysis of Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz." It touches on alcoholism and child abuse.
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Details or Sample: The Drunken Dance:
“My Papa’s Waltz”

Nearly everyone can recollect individual memories from their childhood, both enjoyable and unpleasant alike. The speaker in Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” reflects upon the waltzes he and his father dance around the house after his father has been drinking. His father's breath smells of whiskey, his moves are awkward and borderline abusive, and the son's love and fear of his father cause him to cling to him “like death" (line 3). The abuse of alcohol by a parent can be very difficult for a child, and possibly even destroy a family. Though there is apparent abuse between the father and his son in Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” the speaker’s love and admiration for his father is also portrayed. Using duality and contrasts of emotions, imagery and tone, Roethke conveys the story of a naïve and loving child’s nighttime waltzes with his dangerous and drunken father, and his misinterpretation of abuse for love.

The poem is told with dual aspects of emotion. The speaker uses a disapproving yet nevertheless loving multi-tone to speak of his alcoholic father. The tone of the first stanza (“The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy; / But I hung on like death / Such waltzing was not easy” (1-4)) is harsh, almost brutal. The tone in the second stanza begins to take on not only a harsh characteristic but affectionate as well, representing the speaker’s attitude toward his father. This affection is especially evident in the last two lines, “Then waltzed me off to bed / Still clinging to your shirt" (16). The overall tone is loving and painful, humorous and depressing. With the same duality and ambiguity, the speaker uses frightening images which are then contrasted by comforting images. For example, “The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy" (1­2), a disturbing image, is then followed by their “romp” (3) in the kitchen, a warmer, calmer image. However, their romp then has frightening effects, with pans falling from the shelves due to the father’s drunken stumbling. The meter of the poem is mostly iambic pentameter, moving with they rhythm of a song. However, there are a few irregularities in the meter which make the reader actually feel and hear the father’s stumbling. The rhythm of the poem is lighthearted, like a waltz itself, and ironically contrasts with the abuse told of in the poem. Moving like the swinging beat of a waltz, the poem’s images swing back and forth between comforting and disturbing, finally swinging out of control into a flurry of alarming emotions.

The abuse in the relationship between the father and the son is clearly seen in the word choice and rhyme of the poem. The author uses harsh and painful verbs to convey the violence and pain the father both intentionally and unintentionally brings upon his child. The father’s belt buckle “scrapes” his son’s ear (12) and his hand “beats” upon his son’s head (13) during their waltz. In reference to the effect of alcohol upon the father, the author rhymes such words as “breath” (1) and “death” (3)—a dark and anguished rhyme with underlying implications of danger and violence. The author also rhymes the words “knuckle” and “buckle,” which are both images of abuse—both the knuckles of the hand and the belt are commonly used in the mistreatment of children.

The abuse is seen as well in the images the speaker gives of the father stumbling and off-balance during the waltz. “We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitchen shelf” (5-6) gives an image of the father stumbling around, bumping into the kitchen shelves, dragging his son along. In lines 13 and 14 the speaker tells of scraping his ear on his father’s belt buckle every time his father misses a step. Violence is also implied with “the hand that held my wrist,” (9) which entails the father being forceful, and the father’s battered knuckle in line 10, a sign of previous violence or abuse. On the other hand, with phrases such as “I hung on like death” (3) and “Still clinging to your shirt” (16), Roethke conveys images of a son longing for his father’s affection, not wanting to let go. Continuing with the duality and contrasts, the author also implies in those lines that the child had no choice but to hang on. Writing as an adult, the speaker now acknowledges the abuse he mistook for love as a child.

The author uses stirring imagery that appeals to all five senses of the reader throughout the poem. “The whiskey on your breath” (1) invokes both the sense of smell and the sense of taste. The reader can hear the pans sliding from the kitchen shelves (5-6), feel the child’s ear scrape his father’s belt buckle (12) and the father’s hand beating time on the son’s head (13), and see the mother’s frown as she watches her husband and son dance and roughhouse in the kitchen (7-8). This vivid imagery draws the reader into the poem, until the reader feels he or she is actually a participant in the actions taking place.

Answer 2

I would say that this is a "romp", not a lesson and the boy is romping with his papa, not reluctantly. I get the impression of a father in a celebratory mood with a wife who did not share the feeling so the father and son are "waltzing" around the kitchen banging into things just before the boy's bedtime.

Answer 3

I would interpret it to be: A boy's drunken father is "teaching" him how to dance, not realizing he is making only himself happy. Mother is bothered by his obvious inconsideration for the things he is knocking down in the process and for his selfish use of the boy. I wondered when reading it if the parents had fought before he started dancing with the boy, when she refused to dance.

Answer 4

It sounds like a metaphor for a boy who's dad is an angry drunk that beats his wife and kids. But, of course, the boy wants to be loyal and good to his dad, because that's who he looks up to.

God, I sound emo.

Answer 5

They always come back... Your story is heartfelt filled with the possibilities found in fantasy.

Answer 6

A alchoholic dad who hits his wife and kids. while waltzing?. The boy still has respect for him, no matter what.