Daniel Mosqueda
Mosqueda 1
12.09.08
English 1B
Essay #2
A fun drink leads to a fun dance
“My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem written by Theodore Roethke. The story takes place in a regular house, occupied with a married couple and their child. “My Papa’s Waltz” begins with a little boy describing his evening with his drunken father. He begins by saying “ the Whiskey on your breath could make a small boy dizzy”(Roethke 110). The poem then goes on by telling the reader what a six year old boy goes through after a whole day without seeing his father, because he was at work. Nevertheless, the boy realizes that his father is drunk. Later on during the story the little boy and his father are fooling around making loud noises in the kitchen, which is bothering their mother/wife. The narrator then ends the poem by describing how difficult it was for the little boy to be put to bed by his father because the son didn’t want to go to bed. The reason why the son didn’t want to go to bed was because he was clinging onto his father’s shirt, which indicated that he wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet!
Theodore Huebner Roethke was born on May 25, 1908 and died August 1, 1963. He was an American poet who used a lot of rhythm and natural imagery. Theodore attended college at Harvard where he began his poetic career. Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” in 1948, where he got the idea from his personal life. People believed that his father was an alcoholic, who treated his family bad due to his drinking problems. On the other hand, Roethke wanted to add both positive and negative vibes in his poem. Roethke
Mosqueda 2
wanted people to be somewhat confused about his father, to have them exercise a deeper thought to the poem. When it came to the decision on the title of the poem, Roethke wanted the title to be “m Fathers Dance, but later on he decided that it wasn’t a good decision to have that as the title. Theodore’s poem hardy relates to his life about his family. The only concern is...