In “My Father's Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, there was a great poem that can mean many different things to many different people in this world. To me, I think he was just a boy who just wanted to spend time with his dad before he went to bed. The boy probably doesn't spend much time with his father. The father probably works all day and all week and that's the only time the boy spends with him. Roethke's use of words in this poem is astonishing. The use of words in this story can mean different things to the reader. The first word to look at is the word waltz. In the dictionary, the word waltz is a dance for a fast song three meters away. This is exactly what the father does with his son, but he is drunk and dizzy. “But I held on like death: such a waltz was not easy (Roethke)” The word death is not what people usually think of, but no one can shake or escape death. So the boy clung to his father while his father couldn't get away from him as if the boy didn't want him to leave. “We frolicked until the pots slid off the kitchen shelf (Roethke)” is another word to understand. The word romp means to play or frolic in a lively or noisy manner. To delve deeper into the definition, noisy means rough and noisy. While father and son are playing dance, they are also messing up the house. Messing up the kitchen will drive any mother crazy and that's what happens next. Among any other place in the house, the kitchen is a woman's throne room. “The hand that held my wrist was struck on one knuckle; with every step you missed, my right ear scratched a curl (Roethke). In lines 9-12 you can see that the father is returning from a long day at work. The father's job must be to do something with... middle of paper ... allowing readers to access such powerful memories from their own lives in a way consistent with the words and construction of the poem (Fong). » As you read the poem several times, you begin to experience memories of where you saw or were in this kind of situation. Works Cited Fong, Bobby. Academic literature. Np: np, nd Vol. 17 of Roethke’s “My Dad’s Waltz”. Premier Academic Research. Internet. December 2, 2013. .McKenna, John J. ANQ. Np: np, nd Vol. 11 of Roethke's revisions and the tone of "My Father's Waltz". Premier Academic Research. Internet. December 2. 2013. .