Fatmata Bangura
ENG 112
Professor Tara Grace
September 20, 2017 Poem: “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden The poem “Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden was actually about a little boy and his father who has an uninteresting relationship with his dad. In this poem, it tells us the readers about things the father does for his family most especially his son without being rewarded for his hard work. According to the poem, the speaker fears his father so much maybe that is why the speaker(son) father become so wicked to them especially the speaker(son) due to the much pains that his father went through for his family.
The thesis statement in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” is the strong love the father has for this family mostly his son, and how he wasn’t recognized by his family or his son.
The main character in this poem is the speaker. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” was a man who was reflecting on this past memory when he was a child and the uninteresting relationship between him and his dad. According to the poem “Those Winter Sundays” the speaker says that from him being a little boy to him be an adult now, he also said that he has learned a lot on how to appreciate the love and cares his father’s shows to his family mostly him when he was a very little boy. The speaker also says that he has also learned how hard and difficult and lonely can the duties of any parental love can be and how they are very borne out of their selflessness without any expectation or what so ever. “ No one ever thanked him” ( Line 5). The line sums up the speaker’s relationship to his father. It also means that the speaker didn’t thank him, or even realize all that he’d done for his family.
In setting the poem "Those Winter Sundays" the speaker told us the reader from the present, and also told us about his childhood, how cold it was. How his dad always gets up every day in the cold the weather. According to the speaker's explanation, the speaker makes us imagine him and his family living in a very big, drafty, ramshackle-y old house, with lots of fireplaces. The speaker says
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
“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,
In the first stanza the reader is introduced to the two characters in the poem. The reader is also made aware of the time of the year and day. The first stanza reveals a lot of information. It tells the reader who, when, and where. It also appeals to the sense of touch and sight when it describes the father's hands and also when he "puts his clothes on in the blueblack cold." One could almost feel the "cold" and see the "cracked hands."
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.
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
“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.
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
The poems “Spring and Fall” by Gerard Hopkins and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden both represent a major point in life. In “Spring and Fall” a young girl begins to notice death and feel the since of mortality. While in “Those Winter Sundays” a young boy does not realize his father’s love until he is grown up. Both Poems show how as a child grows up he will look a life differently.
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
“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.
In both “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “forgiving my father” by Lucille Clifton, the speakers have deep discontent with their fathers. They both describe issues they had with their father when they were a child, which resulted in lack of respect. In contrast, both poems show a different healing outcome of the child, that is now an adult, and their lasting opinions of their father. Both poems represent a way a child can deal with a childhood issue with a parent and what it is like to either overcome it or still have it festering inside.