's "My Papa's Waltz" is via New Criticism.1. Read the poem aloud.
2. Scan the poem, using a dictionary.
Line 1: u / u u / / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 2: u / u / / / u (end-stop) = seven syllables with four stresses
Line 3: u u / u / / (end-stop) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 4: u / u u / / u (end-stop) = seven syllables with three stresses
Line 5: u / u / u / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 6: / u u / u / (end-stop) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 7: u / u / u u (enjambment) = six syllables with two stresses
Line 8: u / u / u / (end-stop) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 9: u / u / u / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 10: u / u u / / u (end-stop) = seven syllables with three stresses
Line 11: u / u / u / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 12: u / / / u / u (end-stop) = seven syllables with four stresses
Line 13: u / / u u / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 14: u u / / / u / (end-stop) = seven syllables with four stresses
Line 15: u / u / u / (enjambment) = six syllables with three stresses
Line 16: / / u / u / (end-stop) = six syllables with four stresses
Dominant foot: iamb
Number of feet per line: three
Prevailing meter (dominant foot + number of feet per line):
iambic trimeter
Primary variation on dominant foot: anapest then spondee
Structure: quatrain
Rhyme scheme: abab (imperfect, partial, near or slant rhyme)
// cdc (imperfect) d // efef // ghgh
3. Determine the poetic techniques Roethke employs, and use a
dictionary to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.
Line1: diction = "whiskey" (suggests drunkenness)
Line 2: diction = "small boy" (speaker is male)
Line 3: diction = "hung" (past tense of "hang" so speaker is a
son reflecting on his childhood)
simile = "like death" (negative connotation)
Line 4: metaphor = "waltzing" (the dance of life)
Line 5: diction = "romped" (positive denotation = "to play or
frolic boisterously)
structural irony = meter is iambic trimeter
Line 6: cacophony = "slid," "kitchen" and "shelf"
Lines 7-8: alliteration = "countenance" and "could"
Line 8: synecdoche = her "countenance / Could not unfrown
itself" (Her entire appearance signifies her face.)
Line 9: alliteration = "hand" and "held"
Line 10: diction = "battered" (connotes abuse = negative)
Line 11: structural irony = meter is iambic trimeter
Line 12: cacophony = "scraped" and "buckle" + extra stress
Line 13: diction = "beat" (connotes abuse = negative)
metaphor = "beat time on my head"
(metronome = "a device used to mark time by means of
regularly recurring ticks or flashes at adjustable intervals")
Line 14: cacophony = extra stress
Line 15: euphony = meter is iambic trimeter
Line 16: ambiguity = "clinging" (to escape death [line 3] or he
did not want to stop romping [line 5]?)
4. What is the significance of the poem's structure? (Remember,
New Critics do not use the term form because of its historical
connotations.) Your answer will affect your interpretation of the
poem. (Remember, do not separate the overall structure from
the verbal meanings.)
A waltz is a ballroom dance in triple time. The prevailing meter
mimics the rhythm of the dance. Furthermore, the alternate
rhymes metaphorically represent the two dancers and the two
moods.
5. Summarize and interpret the poem via New Criticism.
The son, reflecting on his childhood, is the speaker. His tone is
crucial to the reader's interpretation of the poem. With respect
to "romped" (line 5) and "waltzed" (line 15), the event seems
high-spirited. However, the "whiskey" (line 1), "the pans" (line
5), the mother's appearance (line 7), the "knuckle" (line 10), the
"buckle" (line 12), and the metronome (line 13) all seem
low-spirited. The most significant negative connotations
concern the son hanging on "like death" (line 3) and "clinging"
(line 16) to his father's shirt. The mother was frowning, but we
do not know what her outlook was. The son might have been
grasping affectionately.
Whether you choose to interpret the memory as an instance of
affection or an instance of abuse simplifies the poem. It is not
an either/or situation. One may unify the oppositions in two
ways. First, although the father's roughness may be
troublesome, the son treasures his affection, clinging to his
memory as he clung to his father's shirt. Second, although the
father was attentive and affectionate, his disregard for his son's
safety and his wife's disapproval are troublesome. But as New
Critics we need to unite those two interpretations: the poem is an
expression of the son's ambivalence (oppositional attitudes)
toward his father.
