Love, in any form, is such that people find ways of celebrating it. The American poet Robert Hayden honors this compelling emotion in the poem “Those Winter Sundays.” “Those Winter Sundays” is a fourteen-line literary work that gives a description of an event from the speaker’s past. Although the poem is a short description of an event past, much information can be read between the lines of few words. Freelance writer Jeannine Johnson characterizes Hayden’s work to honor “the value of love’s simple
In the poem “ The Whipping” by Robert Hayden a boy gets chased and physically abused by an old woman. The speaker sees and listens on how the old women is hitting the child. And visualizes the abuse that he also went through when he was child. Throughout the poem there was metaphors, alliterations,and imagery to interpret the theme of the poem. The poem shows how violence with violence is not a solution that will stop the problem right away but it will make the situation to continue over and over
Whipping” by Robert Hayden Whether it be as small as an argument, or as traumatizing as abuse, people struggle with issues involving family at some point in their lifetime. The poem, “The Whipping” by Robert Hayden, tells exactly that. As a young boy, Hayden moved from family to family as a foster child. One family in particular traumatized him to the point where he still has not forgiven them. With each new family, Hayden experienced new forms of abuse. “The Whipping” by Robert Hayden gives insight
loss has the power to bring out people’s innermost behavior, and this is why Robert Hayden uses it to reach out to the best in humanity. If a mother was to realize that she was losing her child, she’d do whatever it took to prevent it. And if she lost him, she’d need a lifetime to come to terms with it. But she would feel worse knowing that her child existed somewhere, in a place she couldn’t reach and knew nothing of. Hayden, with his most fascinating technique, managed to channel his personal experience
Although the majority of Robert Hayden's writings address racial themes and depicts events in African-American history, he also wrote short poems that capture his own personal experiences. Hayden has an enormous amount of great poems and short stories, but as I read through many of them, I was touched by two specific poems that I felt I could personally relate to. I chose these poems because I am able to put myself into the story-line and understand what the writer is talking about. I believe that
Michelle Spittler Monteiro – Summer 2015 ENGL 1302 6/8/2015 Child Abuse Exposed Robert Hayden’s “The Whipping” is a well-written poem that reveals the disturbing issue of child abuse from the unusual perspective of the abuser and the spectator. The author saw this happen with his own eyes and his account is not meant to be beautiful, but raw and vivid to evoke emotion. This poem is about a young boy who is being beaten with a stick by an overweight woman. A neighbor, the narrator, remembers back
To illustrate, Robert Hayden wrote a poem titled, “Frederick Douglass.” Hayden expressed the chance in the world by writing, “...this man shall be remembered… with the lives grown out of his life, the lives fleshing his dream of the beautiful, needful thing” (Hayden 81). Robert Hayden demonstrated the importance of Frederick Douglass by showing the readers he made a difference. For instance, Douglass
Robert Hayden explains the African Americans Distress and misery in his poems. In the poem, “Those Winters Sundays” Indicates that there were too many Sundays that were a “blueblack Cold” (Hayden, 1962/2013, pp. 2377) Sunday. And it’s a memory of the speaker’s childhood. The Coldness and depression reflects the distance relationship between the boy and his father. Plus, the father’s coldness towards his son. “When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing that chronic
“Those Winter Sundays” (576), by Robert Hayden is an open poem that consists of a five line stanza, a four line stanza and ending with another five line stanza. Although the poem doesn’t have any rhyme schemes, it is still loosely considered as a sonnet due to the fact that it contains fourteen lines. “Those Winter Sundays” is about a personal story about the relationship between the speaker of the poem and the speaker’s father. Hayden uses a combination of sight and sense as well as repetition to
a postmodern poet, yet Robert Hayden did just that in his poem, “Those Winter Sundays.” The poet utilizes his own alienation as a tool to reveal an insider’s view on the issues of his time. Robert Hayden was born in a poor suburb outside Detroit on August 4, 1913. His name at birth was Asa Bundy Sheffey. He was raised, however, as Robert Hayden, the name given by his foster parents. Hayden’s foster parents happened to live across the street from where Hayden was born. Hayden did not discover the story