g-class father's waltz. Certainly American society of 1941, the year of the poem's composition, would see this rough play as more appropriate for a boy than for a girl. By substituting 'boy' for 'girl', then, Roethke could keep the dual tone of this dance: a little rough and scary and a little dear and loving" (McKenna 34-35). The changes shown here are yet another indication of this grown man's emotions toward his childhood experience between him and his father.McKenna also discusses a significant change made in the third stanza of the poem. This change involves the fourth line which reads "My right ear scraped a buckle" (Roethke 668). McKenna discusses how Roethke seemed to reciprocate between the two versions, substituting "forehead" for "right ear" and vice versa (35). "In the revised [and final] version, then, the speaker's head is turned to the side, more in the attitude of a child's embraceThus, the effect is positive on the tone because the dance becomes an informal, impromptu romp" (McKenna 35). This factor makes it clear to the reader that, although this waltz is rough and violent, there are still some loving feelings between the child and his father.Even more revisions were applied to the fourth stanza of "My Papa's Waltz". "In 'MS-A', the first two lines originally read: 'The hand wrapped round my head/ Was harsh from weeds and dirt'. Significantly, these two lines describing the father's hand actually touching the son/ daughter were greatly revised" (McKenna 35). These lines were changed to say something almost totally different: "You beat time on my head/ With a palm caked hard by dirt,/ Then waltzed me off to bed/ Still clinging to your shirt" (Roethke 668). McKenna notes how Roethke replaced 'kept' with 'beat' and in doing so, "making the situation more ominous, more negative" (35). The second line is also almost totally different than it appears in the two original manuscripts. The word 'palm' appears in...
