Name_______________________________ Date__________________ Period_____

Directions:
1. First, mark where punctuation occurs in the poem (use a slash mark to indicate punctuation). 2. Next, read the poem in its entirety without any

judgments—just enjoy and “take in” the poem.

3. Lastly, read the poem again. Only this time—ATTACK!!!! That is highlight and annotate the poem starting with the title:
∙ Paraphrase/ summarize what is happening?
∙ Highlight/ annotate: unfamiliar words/ allusions, strong connotative words, strong/ reoccurring images

My Papa’s Waltz
The whiskey on your breath,
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

5 We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

10 Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,
15 Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
Part II: Diction/ Connotation Analysis
Directions: Identify and discuss at least five words that have strong connotative meaning in the poem.
Word? Connotative Meaning? Type of Connotation? Significance?
In parentheses, (What feelings, emotions, ideas, images (In the context of this Discuss the significance and/ or effect of
indicate the line do we associate with the word?) poem, does the word this word in the poem.
number from where have a positive,
the word comes.) negative, or neutral
connotation?)

“romped” Moving around, frolic, skip or prance positive uniform and practiced rather than a simple
dance; gives a respectable thought

“Death” and “battered Sad and painful negative the story of the poem can completely change
to a drunk father coming home, grabbing his
son, beating him, throwing pans around the
kitchen, and then sending him off to bedm/

“Beat time” Ambiguous neutral The word “beat” can instantly strike people as
negative or abusive, but in musical terms, it is
just the pace of a song. Depending on how
someone pictures a waltz, this could be
another ambiguity. Picture a waltz as light and
close, while someone else may imagine the
dance as slower, strict, or even sad
“waltzing” Dangerous, disastrous negative destructive, they knocked things down from
the shelf

“clinging” Scared, afraid neutral the child was holding tight, and either did not
or was afraid to let go

Part III: Imagery Analysis

Directions: Choose two major images in the poem to analyze.
Image from the Poem Interpretation Context Analysis

∙ Indicate the line ∙ Identify the image type (gustatory, olfactory, ∙ Discuss whether the image is positive, negative, ∙ Discuss the significance of the
number in tactile, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or or neutral in the context of the poem. image?
parentheses. organic).
∙ Discuss to what extent this is a reoccurring image
∙ Explain the image in your own words. in and throughout the poem.
“Beat time on my head” visual The sense of touch used in the fourth stanza's help to These lines create a picture of the father
prove that the poem has a negative and abusive theme. as a working man who takes aggression
out on his son. Appealing to the sense of
touch better illustrates the physical pain
the son endures.

“My mother’s Kinesthetic The second stanza describes the metaphorical dance His mother disapproved of the whole
countenance further. The son and father moved through the thing. She was unable to “unfrown”
Could not unfrown kitchen, disrupting the balance of the room. herself. This suggests that she too is
itself.” used to this chaotic relationship, but she
doesn’t approve of it.

Part IV: TO-PASS--An Analytical Strategy

Directions: Respond to the following questions on your own sheet of paper. Attach your answers to the back of this assignment.

∙ Title- How does the title of the poem add significance and/ or meaning to the poem? The title broadens the interpretation of the
poem. The waltz could signify the boy's entire relationship with his father, which dances between love and fear.
∙ Occasion- For what particular occasion might the poet have written this poem? When was the poem written? What were the
historical, political, philosophical, and social issues of that time? The poem takes place sometime during the poet's childhood and
features a boy who loves his father, but is afraid of him. The boy is waltzing with his father, who is drunk and described as having
battered knuckles and dirty palms. "My Papa's Waltz" deals with themes of family, relationships, confliction, fear, and love.

∙ Purpose- What is the purpose of this poem? What is the poet trying to achieve? What does the poet/ speaker want the audience to
think or do as a result? His goal with writing "My Papa's Waltz" was to show what was going on and recapture the feelings that were
lived through, not just by simply writing about it.

∙ Audience- Who is this poem addressing? How do you know? Why is the author/ speaker addressing this particular audience? The
poem sounds like he is addressing his father, saying that "we romped" around the kitchen. On first glance the line "my right ear
scraped a buckle." could mean his father is abusing him and the romp is fact a metaphor for a beating he is taking.

∙ Speaker- Describe the speaker of this poem: Who is the speaker? To what extent can the speaker be the poet or a specific persona?
What is speaker like? Does the speaker participate in the poem or is he/ she an observer? Why is the effect of the speaker being a
participant or observer? The speaker of the poem is the son, the child who waltzes with his drunk father. The tension between father
and son—and potentially the violence between them—is thus something that the speaker has experienced himself.

∙ Subject- What is the subject of this poem? What does the poem seem to be “saying” about the subject (what is the theme/ central
message/ social commentary)? How does the title, occasion, purpose, audience, and speaker relate to/ influence the theme/ central
message/ social commentary ? The main themes in "My Papa's Waltz" are parents and children and masculinity. Parents and children:
The speaker both admires and fears his father, who is both a role model for the speaker and a source of danger. This apparent
ambivalence reflects the oftentimes conflicted emotions of children towards their parents.

∙ Tone- What seems to be the speaker’s/ poet’s tone (attitude towards the subject matter of the poem)? What words and/ or images
help to create this tone? How does knowing the historical political, philosophical, and social context of the poem change your
understanding of the speaker’s/ poet’s attitude? How does the tone of the poem relate to or inform the poem’s theme, meaning,
message, social commentary? Do you notice any shift in tone (poet’s/ speaker’s change in attitude toward the subject matter)
throughout the poem? If so, where does the shift(s) in tone occur? For what reason? How is the tone shift signaled? How does the
shift in tone relate to or inform the poem’s theme, meaning, message, social commentary?The poem presents a boy roughhousing
 with his father. However, some critics see the roughhousing taking place as abusive, due to the negative word choice displayed
throughout the poem. The author set a positive and negative tone throughout the poem, representing the respect and fear he had for his
father.
Part V: Introduction & Thesis Stem:

Introduction & Thesis Stem:

In _______My Papa’s Waltz__________________, a poem about __coming face to face with the
intricacies of the relationship between a father and son_____, ___written by Theodore Roethke______
(title of poem) (subject) (author’s name)

________interperates the readers perspective.____________

(verb)

__________the imagery and language, the symbolism and tone in the poem
_________________________________________________________________________________ (Literary
elements, devices, etc.—remember to use a descriptor (i.e. poetic diction, visual imagery, etc.)

To______gave the impression_________ that

(verb)

their was love between the father and son, not of an abusive relationship._
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“My Papa's Waltz” is a poem presented in a form that uses specific images and language to present a happy memory
that a man has of his father, even in a situation where his father was drunk.__ The waltz in the story becomes a
symbol of an idealized and elusive relationship between father and son and leads to the title of the poem-"My Papa's
Waltz." The last line of poem, "waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt" infers the boy is very dependent on
his father and shows his father loves him very much. The constant rhythm throughout the poem gives it a light beat,
like a waltz to help the reader feels like he is dancing. The rhythm of poem makes a reader feel the joy of a child, not
the somber sense of abuse____________________________________ (Your claim—social commentary, theme,
effect, relationship the author is conveying)