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Literature Annotations

Roethke, Theodore My Papa's Waltz

	On-Line Audio
Genre	Poem
Keywords	Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Children, Family Relationships, Father-Son Relationship, Illness and the Family, Marital Discord, Ordinary Life, Parenthood
Summary	A child recalls waltzing with his drunken father. His papa's breath stank of whiskey, his moves were clumsy and borderline abusive, and the son's love and fear caused him to cling to his father "like death."
Source	The Lost Son and Other Poems
Publisher	Doubleday
Edition	1948
Place Published	New York
Alternate Source	The Treasury of American Poetry
Alternate Publisher	Dorset
Alternate Edition	1990
Alternate Editors	Nancy Sullivan
Place Published	New York
Annotated by	Chen, Irene and Aull, Felice
Date of Entry	08/01/93
Last Revised	04/23/01