Summary
The poem begins with the speaker addressing his father, mentioning that the father's breath smells like whiskey. In fact, it's such a strong smell that the young speaker feels dizzy. However, he doesn't let go of his father, because the waltzing movement that they're performing together is difficult. It's also unending. As they waltz, the pans in the kitchen slide off of their shelf. The mother, watching, frowns.
Analysis
In a short eight lines, Theodore Roethke creates an immersive, almost overwhelming scene. He does so by employing as many senses as possible, combining an array of images drawn from every realm of sensory experience. Scent and taste—two of the most highly evocative senses—make an appearance straight away, opening the poem with the almost shockingly strong image of whiskey. Meanwhile, the visual image of the mother's frown is preceded by an auditory one—pans slipping off their shelf. In other words, the speaker doesn't simply say that the waltz is an intense and challenging experience. The poem shows us, by making every one of our senses feel involved in the scene. Just as the speaker has to "hang on" because of the speed and intensity of the waltz, we feel ourselves hanging on for dear life as one after another of our senses is called upon.
There's another means by which Roethke creates a feeling of immersion in the scene—meter and rhyme. These two stanzas (and, a glance down the page will reveal, the poem as a whole) are quatrains. This means they consist of four lines each. Each of these lines is on the short side, between six and seven syllables. With some small exceptions, they are written in iambic trimeter. This means that each line is made up of three iambs—iambs being two-syllable segments where the stress falls on the second of those syllables. Because of its clipped, iambic meter, the poem's rhythm imitates the constant, uneven footfalls of the boy and his father. In general, the regularity of this poem's structure creates a sense of both consistency and inescapability, mimicking the unstoppable dance of the two characters.
Meanwhile, the first and third lines of each stanza rhyme, as do the second and fourth—for instance, "breath" and "death," or "dizzy" and "easy." Because Roethke tends to use slant rhyme, as in the example of "dizzy" and "easy," this ABAB rhyme scheme not only contributes to the aforementioned metrical consistency and inescapability, but also creates a childlike ambiance. With simple, lullaby-like rhymes, Roethke emphasizes the youth and innocence of his speaker.
In sum, this is an all-immersive poem, with a wide variety of sensory images combining with an array of meter and sound devices to create intense vividness. That vividness is in itself neutral, and might be used to stress the excitement of a joyful occasion or the misery of an unhappy one. What creates tension in this poem is the fact that, in many ways, it's hard to tell which of the above is happening. On the surface, it's a poem about a father and son playing rowdily (or, to use Roethke's word, "romping"). But there's a constant hint of violence underlying the scene. The father's whiskey-scented breath hints at alcoholism, and the speaker describes himself hanging on "like death"—hinting that violence and indeed death are on his mind. The image of the mother frowning, meanwhile, is ambiguous: is she frowning because she disapproves of the playful chaos before her, or because she is witnessing a scene of abuse? Roethke keeps us guessing, encouraging ambiguity and uncertainty at every turn.
