My Papa's Waltz Syntax

“My Papa’s Waltz,” written by Theodore Roethke, tells of a boy's waltz with his father. While light on the surface, the words hint that there may be a darker nature to the poem. The father, who is a hard-working laborer, has different sides to him that leave the son with ambivalent feelings. Told from the first person point of view of the son, the speaker describes the details of a waltz while his mother simply stands to the side. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” uses an extended metaphor and carefully placed syntax in order to portray the complex relationship between the speaker and his father with a light tone. Throughout the poem, an extended metaphor is utilized to compare the relationship to a light waltz. When his father doesn’t agree with him, the two often engage in altercations that leave

He does so by constructing the lines to misplace the blame for the speaker’s injuries upon mere accidents instead of the father. “My right ear scraped a buckle” (12) for example sounds like the son’s ear caused a scratch on the buckle when it is the other way around. By positioning the words out of cause-effect order, the resentment and displeasure potentially caused by the actions are avoided. In doing so, the son conveys that he doesn’t hold negative feelings or disdains his father for the abuse. Rather, he emphasizes the kind and caring side of his father who “With a palm caked hard by dirt, / Then waltzed me off to bed” (14-15). Even with the lows the pair may experience, the father, after a hard day of work, will come home and tuck his son into bed before washing or taking care of himself. The father shares the same conflicted feelings as his son. The syntax brings about a different perspective to the events as it tries to lighten the tone to contradict feelings of enmity that may arise amid such a