Roethke

Wow, what a sad poem My Papa’s Waltz is.  Child abuse is so incredibly sad and inhumane.  Although it is a really sad poem, I did enjoy the way in which Roethke intertwined the concept of dancing with the abuse the speaker was going through.  There was also a unique tension between the speaker’s knowledge that abuse is wrong and his remaining tenderness towards his dad.  Roethke does a great job of describing just how complicated child abuse is.  In this short poem, he also describes the mother as frowning.  This description suggests that the mother probably didn’t know what to do about the situation.  Although most people might think she is an idiot for not intervening, Roethke portrays through the poem that this might not be as easy as we may think.  Overall, I thought it was a very well written poem.  Roethke says so much in such a short poem.