Imagery In Those Winter Sundays, By Robert Hayden

One similarity that the image and the poem bear in common is featuring cracked, dirty hands as the particular image that goes through the audience's mind while viewing these works of art. In “Those Winter Sundays”, Hayden uses imagery to get this image into the reader's mind with the line “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather.” (3-4) If the author just ended the line with “cracked hands”, the reason behind the cracked hands could have been up for debate, whether it be old age, dryness, or labour by hand. However, by recounting the cause of the cracked hands, the reader is able to conjure up a more vivid image of what the hands must look like and understand why they look like they do. It was also crucial that the author mentioned this towards the beginning of the poem. If it were to be stated towards the end of the poem that the father had cracked hands, it

Writers have their own “special touch” as to how they will sway peoples’ emotions and thoughts with every work they release. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” poet Robert Hayden takes advantage of different types of imagery to display deeper levels of emotion. The imagery changes from being cool in nature to warm in nature as the poem’s growth changes. The reader will find, with the use of visual and auditory imagery, that Hayden may understand the force behind his father’s actions, but the father has not and will not be forgiven in the end. With the use of specifically visual and auditory imagery, Hayden is able to effectively display his emotions from

In Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” tells of an individual reminiscing about their father and the sacrifices he made to provide for them. In the poem, the father was not appreciated for his contribution but the narrator seems to now acknowledge the hard work of the father. As the poem progresses the tone of the narrator is one of regret and remorse. The relationship of the parent and child is often one of misunderstanding and conflict until the experiences life more and come in grasps of the parent’s intention. So, the relation between a parent and child evolves as the child emerges to adulthood.

"Those Winter Sundays" is a very touching poem. It is written by Robert Hayden who has written many other poems. This paper will talk about the poem "Those Winter Sundays". In particular we will look at the structure, main idea, and each stanza of the poem.

The title "Those Winter Sundays" is used to look back on the writer's childhood. In combination with the sonnet, the title emphasizes the guilt the author faces for not honoring his father when he had the chance. For instance, the father was still working diligently during the winter season to ensure his kid's comfort. Even on Sundays the father was up early and polished the child shoes for church. Regardless of the fathers' efforts, the child is not able to value them. Subsequently, after the passing of his father, the child asks himself, "What did I know, what did I know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices" (Hayden 13-14)? Naturally, the child is pondering the time he wasted by not giving the best regards to his compassionate father, whereas the following poem's writer embraces his unflattering father, even in the title.

Authors tend to write on subjects that they know the most about, or subjects that affect them on a personal level. Authors and poets use various aspects of life for the basis of their works, such as life experiences, romances, and family roles. Poems like “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “Forgiving My Father” by Lucille Clifton feature one of the most important roles in a family: a father. The two poems differ vastly in many regards, but many similarities surface among them and a common theme resides between them. Through the similarities they hold, the poems represent a common theme of regret for one’s lack of action.

In the poem the speaker tells us about how his father woke up early on Sundays and warmed the house so his family can wake up comfortably. We are also told that as he would dress up and head down stairs he feared ¨the chronic angers of that house¨, which can be some sort of quarrel between his father and his mother in the house. This can also lead the reader to believe that the father may have had been a hard dad to deal with. However the father would polish his son's shoes with his cracked hands that ached. This shows the love that the father had for his son and now that the son has grown he realizes what his father did for him. The sons morals and feelings have changed him because as he has grown to become a man he has learned the true meaning of love is being there for one's family and not expecting it to be more than what it is. Consequently this teaches him a lesson on how much his father loved him and how much he regrets not telling him thank

Similarly, Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays starts with a young adult reflecting back on his childhood and remembering how hard his father worked. He thinks back and his tone is of admiration and respect. This is apparent when the young man reflects, “Sundays too my father got up early…No one ever thanked him.” (Hayden, 1-5) The young man is realizing how hard his father worked and how little recognition he got. This makes a certain degree of guilt come over the young man. He remembers “fearing the chronic angers of that house” (Hayden, 9) and dislikes his father because of it by “speaking indifferently to him” (Hayden, 10). Then the

In "Those Winter Sundays" Hayden tells a story about a son looking back at his father during his childhood. The poem describes a father that through words doesn't necessarily show love or affection towards his family. It captures the need of love from a distant father to his child. Through reading this poem, it is discovered that the love the son was looking for was always present it was just communicated more through the fathers efforts and less through the type of tenderness that is expected from a child. He explains in small details his fathers suffering. The man

“Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden describes a father relationship during the cold mornings. The poem focuses on a child’s memory where they’re looking back at a certain point in life that they regret. The speaker starts off the poem reflecting on his past, more importantly his relationship with his father.

As we grow up, whether it is our parents or others, we are given help to build a better future. In “Those Winter Sundays”, the speakers father provides large quantities of aid toward the speaker. In the first line of the first stanza, “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold.” Hayden notes two very small details that are awfully important. The first two words encompass a great deal of love, “Sundays too.”. The word too implies that not only does the father wake

In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, the speaker is reflecting on his past with his father, but mainly the Sunday mornings he experienced during his childhood. Throughout the poem, there also happens to be a very dark and possibly even somber tone, which is shown by using several different types of literary devices. Hayden utilizes strong imagery supported by diction and substantial symbolism comprehensively. Furthermore, there are various examples of both alliteration and assonances. The poem does not rhyme and its meter has little to no order. Although the father labors diligently all day long, and he still manages to be a caring person in his son’s life. The poem’s main conflict comes from the son not realizing how good his father actually was to him until he was much older. When the speaker was a young boy, he regarded his father as a callous man due to his stern attitude and apparent lack of proper affection towards him. Now that the son is older, he discovers that even though his father did not express his love in words, he consistently did with his acts of kindness and selflessness.

Often times in life, people begin to appreciate relationships when reflecting on one’s previous actions and regretting what one has done. In “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden describes how a son remembers his father’s sufferings and sacrifices that he did not appreciate in the past. Hayden uses visual and auditory imagery, personification, alliteration, and drastic shifts in tone to show how the son recognizes his father’s physical and emotional pain, and regrets his former indifference.

Although Robert Hayden and Sylvia Plath both use vivid imagery to display their fathers, the way the authors use imagery is different. In Plath’s “Daddy,” she uses imagery to paint a dark picture of a Nazi who holds the title of her father. She uses imagery to compare her father to a black, confining shoe. She compares herself to a foot that has been living in the shoe for thirty years (Plath 290). The shoe metaphor represents her confinement under her father’s rule, but she is finally free. Because freedom from confinement is one of the main themes for “Daddy,” Plath’s use of imagery contributes to the theme of the poem. Conversely, Robert Hayden uses imagery in “Those Winter Sundays” to display his father’s work ethic. He uses works like, “cracked hands,” and “blueblack cold,” to show the conditions that his father went through because of his love for his children (Hayden 288). Hayden’s use of imagery helps to show the theme of “Those Winter Sundays,” regret for being unappreciative of a father’s love, by showing the obstacles that Hayden’s father went through for his son. The authors use of imagery helps display the overall themes of the poems by demonstrating their fathers’ character.

There are many different types of emotions that are found within "Those Winter Sundays". The emotions that I was able to recognize are embarrassment, regret, and self-remorse. In line 5 it stated, "banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him". Towards the end of the poem, these emotions were more straightforward and made the poem easier to understand. I think that the speaker of this poem thinks that it is not okay to thank others for the hard-work and sacrifices that they make for others. The speaker feels that people should be recognized for all they do. I read through lines 6-9 and found more emotions from the speaker. They are fear, warmth, hardship, stress, and anxiety. "I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking/ When the rooms