1
2
3
4

5
6
7
8

9
10
11
12

13
14
15
16
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

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


The hand that held my wrist
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,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.

 

about the poet
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963). Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Roethke was the son of a greenhouse owner; greenhouses figure prominently in the imagery of his poems....(more)

Interactive Exercise: Reader-Response Criticism in “My Papa’s Waltz”

Select the highlighted portion of the poem for questions that will help you make connections between the poem and Reader-Response Criticism. Select the "complete exercise" link below to respond to the questions and add your responses to your notebook.

See a definition for
Reader-Response Criticism.

>Complete Exercise

For a model essay about “My Papa’s Waltz” written from a particular critical approach, click on either of the links below:

>Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”: A Deconstructionist Reading

>Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”: A Reader's Response


"My Papa's Waltz" from COLLECTED POEMS OF THEODORE ROETHKE by Theodore Roethke, copyright. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc.

Contributing author: Margaret Wald

Bedford/St. Martin's | Order a Book | Instructor Registration | Contact Us | Contact Your Sales Representative