week five

Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz" is written with a tone of irony. The author writes of his troubled childhood, describing his relationship with his father on the nights he would be beaten, in a nostalgic way that makes it appear as if the beatings were a play, or a dance between him and his father. There are many examples within the poem that lead to this conclusion and create the sense of irony in the tone.