Part I
While Child Protective Services might find the dance that unfolds in Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” to be a bit unsightly, it is clearly an event that the little boy enjoys, finding it a moment of bonding with his father. The fact that the boy’s “mother’s countenance/Could not unfrown itself”(Roethke 7-8) suggests that she disapproves of the father drinking. Indeed, the father has had more than a couple of shots, as the mere smell of it on his father’s breath turns the boy dizzy. This use of alcohol may well be just a form of solace after a long ...