Those Winter Sundays Essay

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 / . . .

Imagine a world where people’s actions did not define us. In the excerpt The Book The Thief by Markus Zusak, the character Death interacts with others and their emotions. In the excerpt Night by Elie Wiesel, he was sent to concentration and lost faith in humanity. In the poem Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, the father and his sons relationship is put to the test when they do not show their love for each other as much as they should. Interactions with others define us when we are unable unable to show our love to someone, take away our rights, and when they change how we view things in life.

The poem “Those Winter Sundays” is from the point of view of a child speaking about his father. The author, Robert Hayden, uses diction and symbolism to display how the son is uncaring and indifferent to his father until the tone shift, where the son is regretful for his actions.

Regret is an emotion that sometime creeps up on us. We don’t realize it until it is too late. People experience regret in several ways. They may experience it right away or they may not experience it until later on. They may also act on the regret in different ways. In “Those Winter Sunday’s,” Robert Hayden varies his point of view in order to convey a tone of regret. He achieves this by using diction, imagery, and symbolism.

Poetry, the feeling and emotions of the soul recorded on paper for men, women and children alike to interpret and enjoy. When a poet puts their thinking cap on, the result is much more substantial than rushed lines and forced rhymes; if effort is put into the reader's interpretation of the work, the feelings and emotions put into the text are revealed. Through love, empathy, and remorse the speaker's state of mind is divulged as a state of reflection in "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden.

This phrase appeals to two senses: sight and touch, which makes this imagery vivid. There is also alliteration in the word blueback with the repeated b sound making the word sound cacophonous and harsh. The author also uses many cacophonous words in this poem such as “cracked”, “ached”, “blaze”, “splintering”, “breaking”, and “angers”. The author does this to show the harsh activities that the father had to go through to show why the child should regret not thanking his father.

Hayden also uses figurative language, such as alliteration and personification, to further illustrate the father’s arduous work and the son’s indifference. For example, Hayden repeats “w” sounds in “weekday weather” to create a sense of long, tiring weekdays rather than short, refreshing weekends (4). Such emphasized phrase shows that the father is continuously hard-working, taking care of his family even on Sundays, as stated in line 1. Also, “labor” that precedes the “weekday weather” further accentuates the father’s strenuous work done for the family throughout the week. Soon after establishing persistent presence of the father’s sacrifice, “banked fires blaze” highlights the father’s perpetual effort to make a better environment for the family through the stressed constance sound of “b” (5). Such drum-like sounds make a physical demonstration of the flames’ beating through the repetitive consonant sound. While alliteration indicates the continual sacrifices that the father makes, personification reveals some tense, cold parts of the father-son relationship, possibly resulting from the family’s indifference and ingratitude. Some anger is present between the son and the father, as shown through “the chronic angers of the house” (9). By personifying the house as “chronic [and angry],” Hayden indicates the unwanted heat of the house created by the father. The son, unable

Hayden’s poem, “Those Winter Sunday’s”, shows how a father of child who goes through bitter working conditions to provide for the ones he loves; the author shows the fathers love and care for the kid in line 18 ,”who had driven in the cold and polished my good shoes as well”, how the father drives through the hazardous weather conditions for his child so they can have the satisfaction of having good shoes supports the love of the father. Also, the statement “…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze”, is how the father takes so much to work in frigid temperatures but is still coming home to build an ire and make sure his loved ones are warm. The way Hayden’s use of bitter and sharp words such as

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

In order to make ends meet, the speaker’s dad sacrificed for him every day; even on those winter Sundays. The pain stricken features, the agony, and the strife the father exhibits, was to not let the speaker have to experience his life. The “lonely offices” the speaker’s father exhibits, is an effect of showing love for his family. The deep, dark, depressing places the speaker’s father exhibited; shows the speaker that his father loves and cares for him. In the poem, Hayden uses many descriptive words to set the scene for his work.

This arising tone of regret and distance is also formed by the speaker’s depiction of his father having “cracked hands that ached,” (1. 3) which further signifies the father’s struggle with the severe coldness. The concept of self-sacrifice is apparent in this portrayal of his father’s disregard to his own pain in order to provide warmth and light for his family’s home. The stirring of “banked fires blaze” (1. 5) within the house,

Paternity is an occupation that has been an integral part of nature and society since the dawn of time. Like maternity, it is a burden that must be carried out to preserve the survival of mankind and to ensure that children are properly cared for. For the most part, men and women have different advantages and disadvantages when it comes to raising children. This is simply due to the given parent’s life experiences. Generally speaking, fathers and mothers have different methods of nurturing, but having both is incomparable.

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

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.

In those winter Sundays, Robert Hayden stated a lot with very few words. This was possible due to brilliant use of imagery, metaphor and sound. His striking words invokes thoughts in the mind of the reader of this dedicated father, up alone exposed to the harsh elements who works hard each day to make his family comfortable, however they don 't value his acts of good will, nor did they give him any credit.