My Papa's Waltz

In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” written by Theodore Roethke, the interpretation of the poem depends on the readers‘ perspective. The title itself, the word choices, and the rhythm in the poem gave me the impression that the father is not abusive but drunk. The images used by the speaker were simultaneously tempting and satisfying to support my point of view of the father drunk ness. The speaker mentions that the breath of his …showed first 75 words of 749 total…

…showed last 75 words of 749 total…The poem ends by the confort of the speaker going to bed and the closeness shown between father and the son. The father probably had a very rough time at work but he took the time to waltz his son off to bed. The poem ending with a positive attitude an such closeness between father and son help me with the conclucion that the father was drunk while dancing with his son not mistreating him.