And the phrase "I hung on like death" that denotes a child's fear of falling or tension. To the child "such waltzing was not easy." The phrase, too, "you beat time on my head" tells us something of the child's height, as well as the father's strength.

The description about the hand is an evocative phrase. And 'sliding' is again consistent with the dance movements of a waltz. The waltz is a form of rough horsing, and Roetke shows both in his poem, with tension jostling fun.

The rhythmic romp of the waltz can be felt in the poem's iambic trimetrical quatrains..

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy." (lines 1-4)

But although the whisky is mentioned, the father does not come off as a drunk. The poem is a little field of energy with...
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