"My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

  This week, we were required to read a poem from our poetry books and interpret it in a blog. I chose the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke. I chose this poem because I really liked the way it sounded after reading it out loud. It is a shorter poem, and I felt that the length gave it depth. It was short yet still interesting. It was also very easy to understand. After reading it once, I understood the purpose. The poem must be about a personal experience, because while reading I could actually picture a little boy dancing with his dad before bed time. However, the experience does not sound pleasant. In the first stanza, line 2 it says "could make a small boy dizzy." One line after that one it says "Such waltzing was not easy." This means that the boy had difficulty dancing and did not seem to enjoy it. Also, these two lines do not have a definite rhyme scheme, however I do notice that the words dizzy and easy sound similar. In the second stanza, the rhyme scheme becomes evident. The last word on line 6 is "shelf", and the last word in line 8 is "itself." Also in line 7 the word countenance appears, but I have no idea of what that word means. It also discusses how the mother is frowning. It seems to me like dancing was not what this father and son were doing. However, I cannot figure out what they were actually doing.
  In the third stanza, the rhyme scheme even becomes more evident. In fact, lines 9 and 11 rhyme while lines 10 and 12 also rhyme. By rhyme, I mean the last word in the line rhymes with the other last word in the other sentence. In the third stanza, a battered knuckle is also mentioned. I do not know what these means, I guess the fathers knuckle was cut or something. Also, in line 12, it says "My right ear scraped a buckle." I think this means that the little boy was getting hurt some how. I picture this little boy with his head up against his dad's belt buckle. However, I am not sure that this is the true meaning. There is lots of imagery in this poem. I so vividly can see this little boy dancing with his dad. In the fourth stanza, the rhyming continues to progress. The first line in this stanza says "You beat time on my head." I am not sure what this means. Maybe the father is tapping his hand on the son's head keeping the beat of the music. Once again, there is a reference to a hand. Line 2 says "With a palm caked hard by dirt." This must mean that the father is hard worker. Finally, the last two lines say "Them waltzed me off to bed, Still clinging to your shirt." After reading the last two lines, I think that the dad must have been singing the child to sleep while dancing with him. Maybe the family is suffering from a hard time or something of that matter. I really enjoyed the sound of this poem and how it almost sounds as if it could be sung like a song. I also love the imagery.