Those Winter Sundays Essay

In the poem, “Those Winter Sundays” the speaker talks about his father leaving for “labor”. Curiously, the father goes to work on a Sunday, the speaker then elaborates how his father goes to work very early “with cracked hands that ached” (3). The theme of this poem is that love does not always appear in a friendly or lovable form. Lines like “I would rise and dress/fearing the chronic angers of that house” (8-9), we can see that the speaker lives in a dysfunctional house and imagery of cold and harshness "cracked hands that ached," (3) "blueblack cold." (2). The reader can also interpret that the speaker and the father have a dysfunctional relationship, “the chronic angers of that house” (9) The diction the author uses, can be used to give

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.

He also describes the conditions of the father's hands demonstrating that he was a hard worker and still woke up before everyone else to warm up the rooms. The father basically says love in the simple act he does. Like many people I can personally relate to this poem. My father was not always demonstrative and affectionate but during my childhood years he always made sure I had everything I needed. That showed me that my father cared.

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.

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

In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, is about a man looking back on his childhood experience, and relationship with his father. The father of this man was the type of person to do arduous labor, and be unacknowledged for it. Although the father deserved to not be acknowledged because he only went through this labor for his obligation and expectations to do so, not out of love, compassion, nor alacrity of any kind. He was an austere, anodyne, and abusive father but, his son still believes he could have been a better son by behaving more appropriately, and giving him at least a time where someone recognized and acknowledged his efforts through gratitude. The son thought that if he did so, then things between them may have been better. Through the wording, consonance, strong words, and meaning in the poem “Those Winter Days” exemplify the poor relationship between father and son, being bethought by his son as a man leading to his remorse that he could’ve been on better terms with his father.

Regret is shown in “Those Winter Sunday’s” by using diction. The way he uses the words in the poem help the reader understand the regret the narrator is feeling. Robert Hayden’s diction makes the poem run smoothly and easy to understand and read. The diction in the last stanza is calmer than in the other two. The third stanza shows that the narrator understood what his father went through and that his father really loved him. The words in the first two stanzas are harsher. Two examples are “blackblue cold” and “cracked hands” (540). Robert Hayden choice these words for emphasis. He also uses these words as a contrast. A contrast between hot and cold. An example of this is when he says, “and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold” (540). He is emphasizing how cold the air was compared to his warm clothes. Hayden emphasis the work that the father had to go through so his family did not have too.

A child’s future is usually determined by how their parent’s raise them. Their characteristics reflect how life at home was like, if it had an impeccable effect or destroyed the child’s entire outlook on life. Usually, authors of any type of literature use their experiences in life to help inspire their writing and develop emotion to their works. Poetry is a type of literary work in which there is an intensity given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinct styles and rhythm. These distinct styles include different types of poems such as sonnets, villanelles, free verse, imagist poems, and many more. And these distinct styles are accentuated with the use of literary devices such as metaphors, similes, imagery, personification, rhyme, meter, and more. As a whole, a poem depicts emotions the author and reader’s can relate to. In the poem’s “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, and “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, we read about two different parent and child relationships. These two poems help portray the flaws and strength’s parents exhibit and how their children follow their actions and use it as a take away in their grown up lives.

In the poem, I get a sense that there is no bond, like my father and I have which leads to confusion in the narrator's life. For instance, in line eight when he says, "I would slowly rise and dress,/ fearing the chronic angers of the house"(8-9), this gives me a strong sense of sadness, for him because I feel that he is greatly deprived of what every child should have a good role model as a father, and someone to look up to. “Speaking Indifferently to him, / who had driven out the cold”(10-11) is saying that they really did not know how to communicate with each other. I feel that the boy will regret not having and knowing what it is that makes you who you are, and may never get a chance to have and hold a special bond with his father and having a relationship with a person that can not be held with anyone else. This would bring an enormous amount of sadness to my life had I not had my Dad there to guide and protect me, when I could have used tremendous support and security.

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

At the beginning of the poem, it becomes apparent to the reader that the poem takes on a very dull tone from the title itself. “Those Winter Sundays” shows that the poem is gloomy and sad as opposed to summer days that are usually filled with brightness and warmth. Early in the poem, Hayden uses examples of imagery to show the diligence and hard work of the father. He states “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blue-black cold” (Hayden 968). By using colors to describe the coldness of the house it allows to the reader to create a lucid image of what it must feel like. “Blue-black cold” suggests that inside the house it is as cold as when someone’s face or lips turn blue or black from the freezing weather. Another example of the father’s fine work ethic was Hayden’s choice of the words “Sundays too” rather than just saying “On Sundays”. Daniel Landau stated in an article “In the book of genesis, Chapter 2, versus 2 and 3, it is written that he rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it” (Landau). This gives a clear idea of the fact that the father works every day of the week, even on Sundays, which is usually a day that most people prefer to rest. By doing this, the reader can automatically visualize the effort that the father puts into the well-being of not only himself but his child as well.

In Those Winter Sundays, Robert Hayden writes from the perspective of a son who is looking back on his relationship with his father with regret. Hayden begins the poem saying, “Sundays too my father got up early.” This expresses how Hayden’s father worked every day in order to support his son. This is followed by cacophonous words such as “blueback,” and “ached” to portray the physical labor that the narrator’s father displayed on a daily basis. Hayden then writes, “with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday.” This imagery alludes to the idea that the father is a day laborer during the week, similar to Roethke’s father in My Papa’s Waltz. But unlike Roethke’s father, the amount of imagery correlating with physical labor shows the reader that Hayden’s father portrays his love for his son through physical labor. Hayden goes on to describe his house in the morning saying, ([I would rise] fearing the chronic angers of that house, speaking indifferently to [the father].” Unlike the intimate atmosphere of My Papa’s Waltz, this imagery of chronic anger leads the

Hayden utilizes diction to set a dark and solemn tone throughout the poem. Like the various examples of imagery, there is also a strong use of underlying symbolism. In the first stanza, the words “cold” (1. 2) and “fires blaze” (1. 5) are used, which introduces a conflict. This is emphasized in the second stanza when the word “cold” (2. 1) is used again, later followed by the word “warm” (2. 2). In the last stanza, the father eventually “had driven out the cold” (3. 2). Yet the father had not ridden the house of the cold air until the end of the poem, which symbolizes how it took his son several years later to recognize the behaviors in which his father conveyed his love for him.

Robert Hayden’s poem, “Those Winter Sundays”, focuses in upon the narrator who is looking back upon their younger years and their relationship with their father. The poem then further elaborates on this concept, keeping it as the focal point of the poem, through use of imagery. Robert Hayden uses imagery a great deal to describe, in depth, not only the setting, but the very nature of the father and the narrator’s relationship. Parallels can be drawn between the use of imagery, the bitter and frigid winter days, and the narrator’s cold relationship with his father. Thus, by exploring the use of imagery in the poem the father and narrator’s relationship becomes clearer.

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.