Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, portrays a memory that the speaker has with his father in which they are dancing in the kitchen. The poem is in the perspective of the young boy describing the memory of a “waltz” he had with his father through a childlike point of view. The poem’s title attempts to portray a happy exchange between a father and son however the literary devices used display a counter perspective. Through the use of metaphors, tone, and diction in his poem, Roehke’s describes both a positive and negative memory in which it seems as the son desires a healthier relationship with his father, but encounters the negative impact of physical abuse.
In “My Papa’s Waltz” both the positive and negative aspects of the relationship