My Papa's Waltz
Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath (A)
Could make a small boy dizzy; (B)
But I hung on like death: (A)
Such waltzing was not easy. (B)

We romped until the pans (C)
Slid from the kitchen shelf; (D)
My mother's countenance (C)
Could not unfrown itself. (D)

The hand that held my wrist (E)
Was battered on one knuckle; (F)
At every step you missed (E)
My right ear scraped a buckle. (F)

You beat time on my head (G)
With a palm caked hard by dirt, (H)
Then waltzed me off to bed (G)
Still clinging to your shirt. (H)

1. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem

• The Rhyme scheme of the poem is A, B, A, B, C, D, C, D, E, F, E, F, G, H, G, H.

2. Identify 7 examples of diction and state each word's connotation.

• Death: sleep, cold, sadness, melancholy, coffins, 6 feet under

• Hung: anxious, tired, grabbing

• Romped: breaking things, making fun, playing around, good times, 

• Waltzing: dancing, dizzy, steps, feet, entertainment, fun 

• Unfrown: mad, sad,

• Battered: broken, beaten, sad, scared, bloody, painful, cuts, hit, bruised

• Clinging: holding on, tired, grabbing, holding, doesn't want it to stop.

3. Identify 3 sound devices in the poem

• Couplet

• Assonance

• Alliteration

4. Identify 4 images in the poem

• The whiskey on your breath

• My right ear scraped a buckle.

• With a palm caked hard by dirt

• Slid from the kitchen shelf

5. After examining your evidence, state the speaker's attitude toward  his father. Justify your answer in a 3-4 sentence paragraph.

• The speaker's attitude towards the poem is he loves his father and still wants to keep dancing with him even though the dad is drunk. At the end of the poem it says that the boy is still clinging to his dad's shirt.