T. Roethke S My Papa S Waltz

T. Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”

DANGEROUS READINGS

There’s a danger of reading poems in a contemporary light – sometimes such a perspective shines a light on meanings not there or not intended by the poet.

Case in point:

(1) Some time in the 1980s, interpretations on this poem began to darken.

·  Rather than seen as an innocent memory of a son rough-housing with his father

·  It began to be seen as an indictment of abuse

o  the father is a mean drunk, or at least dangerous

o  physically beating the child

o  on top of his head

o  an aggressive hold on his wrist

o  familial Stockholm Syndrome

o  fear, terror (clinging out of fear)

o  this is the only time he spends with the kid: usually he’s working, drunk, hanging with the boys

§  however, all of this is countered by the tone of the piece,

§  from the title through diction and meter

§  the boy is still clinging at the end, not running away

§  the piece is more eulogy than lambasting

§  sons & fathers (WWE, rough housing)

·  textual evidence more than biographical, authorial intent

(2) In the light of the recent Penn State scandal, the Sandusky matter has us thinking about issues we’d much rather not (which may be part of the problem with sexual abuse cases).

·  This case has cast a pall over the state and colored our perceptions, of reality and literature.

·  If we look at this poem through this cloud, we see a much different story than Roethke intended and even much darker than the previous interpretation:

o  the boy’s ear is scraped by the father’s buckle

o  this places his head – his face – at a certain level

o  the father takes him to the bedroom at the end

o  the waltz is performed by a man & a woman, making the boy, following his father’s lead, the woman in this situation, and as the woman…

o  the silent disapproval of the mother of the father’s conduct

·  disgusting

·  inappropriate

·  in there but not really in there