Those Winter Sundays focuses on the idea that parents, specifically this father, are willing to do anything for their children’s well being and comfort even if that means working constantly and giving up their own luxuries. This is evident when it says, “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking./ When the rooms were warm, he’d call,/ and polished my good shoes as well. ” (6-8). The son wakes up to the sounds of the cold, but never has to experience it himself. He remains snuggling in his warm blankets because his gracious father would sacrifice his comfort to push out the cold for his children. Only
I am going to perform Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden. in this poem Hayden explains how hard a speaker’s father worked. The term “blue-black cold” depicts the very early cold morning when the sky is between black and blue. It illustrates how early the father wakes up. He wakes up before sunrise which really had with a person who is tired to do that. Although it was difficult for him to wake up this early, he does it anyway to provide for his family. He doesn’t get enough sleep, but he is such a hard worker that the reader is able to grasp his hard work with the description “cracked hands that ached.” His cracked hands that ached further highlights his sacrifice. The word “ached” shows us a strong meaning for hard work. It shows that
“Those Winter Sundays” is a short lyric poem. It is written in a simple language and is clear and precise. Its metaphors are those of everyday life. The opening stanza of the poem, which refers to “my father,” establishes a first-person speaker. It also shows that the speaker is recalling a time when he was a child. The speaker presents us with the atmosphere around which his father worked. For example in lines one and two, “Sundays too my father got up early/blueblack cold” (1-2). Here the “Sundays”, and the “early” signifies the great devotion of speaker’s father. He gets up early even on Sundays,
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 poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden is an interesting poem. This poem tells of an adult’s perspective of his father. From the poem, it is clear that there is the distance between the child and the father and inadequate communication. However, at the end of the poem, readers discover that love was present between the two. Although this poem is only 14 lines, it is packed with remarkable power in every single line.
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.
The tone in "Those Winter Sundays" is also reflective, yet it establishes a sense of guilt and remorse. The speaker questions inwardly by wondering "What [he] kn[e]w / . . .
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, “My Father as a Guitar” by Martin Espada, and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney are three poems that look into the past of the authors and dig up memories of the authors fathers. The poems contain similar conflicts, settings, and themes that are essential in helping the reader understand the heartfelt feelings the authors have for their fathers. With the authors of the three poems all living the gust of their life in the 1900’s, their biographical will be similar and easier to connect with each other.
“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.
Family members will sometimes disagree with one another, but no matter what they say, love is always present. In Robert Hayden’s, “Those Winter Sundays”, love is always shown, no matter the circumstances. Throughout stanzas one, two, and three, the speaker and his father are shown caring for one another; however, at times, the speaker dislikes his father and isn’t grateful for all of the work his father does for him. In “Those Winter Sundays”, diction clears a path to show us signs of love between the speaker and the father, even though they are not clear.
“Those Winter Sundays” written by Robert Hayden, depicts the ungratefulness that a young boy has towards his hardworking father. Later in the poem, as he matures, he begins to realize everything his father has done for him, and his feelings suddenly change. Throughout the poem, Hayden uses numerous examples of imagery, personification, and foreshadowing to show how the speaker’s attitude regarding his father transforms from the perspective of a child to the perspective of an adult.
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.
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.