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Essay On Those Winter Sundays

Decent Essays

Silence offers valuable moments of introspection and understanding. The poem “Those Winter Sundays” written by Robert Hayden describes the narrator’s childhood and memories of his father. The poem conveys the message of a father’s unconditional love presented through his actions. Essentially, it displays different aspects and forms of love that can be found beyond the literal and positive meanings. Through diction, imagery, and syntax the author reflects on the sacrifices and hardships of his father, to express his remorseful feeling for overlooking his father’s love.
Diction is used to reveal the narrator’s tone of guilt or regret. It is evident that the father is a restless man as on “Sundays too” he gets up early to work. Typically, Sunday …show more content…

The poem is written as a reflection/recollection of the narrator’s past memories and actions pertaining to his father. It is arranged in the past tense format with past participles. This further proves of the events occurring in the past and ties in with the relation of a specific time or age complementing with one’s lack of knowledge and understanding. Since the author is reflecting on his past there is the consideration of his lower comprehensive skills. The poem is also structured in the form of memories, which is coherent to the meaning of the poem as it efficaciously communicates the reflective theme. At the end, there is a major shift as the rhetorical questions play into role. ”What did I know, what did I know?” In this the narrator’s tone partially sounds as if he is directing the questions to his younger self in an interrogating manner, questioning his understanding. This particular statement expresses more of his inner voice, which is of deep sorrow and guilt for not acknowledging his father’s deeds and noticing his love. Likewise, the reader is able to notice this change and appreciate the narrator’s new level of maturity and

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