"My Papa's Waltz"

Since our poetry fishbowl discussions are tomorrow, I thought that I would offer some of my insights on the poem assigned to me—“My Papa’s Waltz.”

-The first line is “The whiskey on your breath.” Such an opening brings up an image of drunkenness. Furthermore, the fact that the speaker, a man looking back on his younger days, can name the exact drink—whiskey—suggests that the father’s drunkenness is actually regular and significant.

-In the second line (“Could make a small boy dizzy”), the reader learns that the narrator seems to be remembering his days as a young boy with his father. While the incorporation of the word “dizzy” is part of the fact that the boy is engaged in a waltz, the word also has a negative connotation. It’s almost as if his father’s destructive behavior is making him dizzy.

-Finally, the third line shows that the waltz isn’t something that is exactly enjoyable. The boy “hung on like death.” The word “death” implies that there is some darkness associated with the waltz. Furthermore, “hung” can also refer to death by hanging. Perhaps, by dancing with his father, the boy is slowly dying as he witness his father’s destructive behaviors. He then goes on to say that “such waltzing was not easy.” Such a statement is ironic because dancing should be easy and free. In fact, it’s not just the waltzing that’s not easy; being with his father is hard.

-By the second stanza, the destruction becomes even more pronounced. As the speaker says “we romped until the pans,” the inclusion of “romped” makes it seem as if the dance is more than just horseplay. In fact, it shows that the dance is actually violent. It is so violent, in reality, that the “pan’s slid from the kitchen shelf.”

-When the speaker says, “My mother’s countenance/Could not unfrown itself,” it at first seems as if the mother’s disappointment lies in the pans falling from the kitchen shelf. However, the mother is so upset that she was never smiling and always had a frown on her face.

-Finally, the third stanza gives evidence to physical abuse. The speaker says, “The hand that held my wrist/Was battered on one knuckle.” The hand was battered suggesting that the father has been beating the boy. Even the fact it was on one “knuckle” shows that fists have been made, and acts of aggression have happened.

-The next line says, “At every step you missed/My right ear scraped a buckle.” While this could show the dancing, it also shows that the father is using a belt—often a form of beating children. When the father misses a step, it seems like he is almost stumbling and is beating his child under the influence of alcohol.

-Finally, the speaker says “You beat time on my head.” Again, the word “beat” is relevant to the abuse that seems to be occurring. However, I am not sure why the speaker says he beat “time.” What is the significance of time? Does it have to do with the time of the day? Or perhaps it is important because it signals how much time the boy has left to endure the abuse?

-Throughout the whole poem, the child seems to obey his father despite the abuse. The poem, interestingly enough, is also in iambic trimester, which is similar to the beat of a waltz.