A Reading of “Those Winter Sundays”
In Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” a relationship between the speaker and the speaker’s father is expressed in short but descriptive detail, revealing a kind of love that had gone unnoticed for so long. Throughout the poem, Hayden’s use of connotative diction keeps the poem short and sweet yet packed with significant meaning. The evocative sound patterns play just as great a role setting the harsh and reflective tone of the poem. Together, these devices are used to effectively deliver the poem.
The speaker seems now to be a grown man, though it is not distinguished in the poem, remembering the distant relationship he had with his father as an adolescent. He would wake every morning to the warmth of a fire despite the biting cold which lay beyond the house windows and doors. The speaker took for granted the heat that he was provided, not acknowledging the effort that went into giving this simple expression of love. Now looking back, he seems to regret not being thankful for his father’s actions and being so blind and ignorant to the love that was right in front of him.
From the very first words of the poem, the connotative diction gives the reader an idea of the direction in which the poem in going. “Sundays too my father got up early” (line 1), where the poem begins, expresses the fathers hard-working nature. The fact that he gets out of bed every day of the work-week and Sundays too, shows that his job as a father and provider...
“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.
The first stanza begins with a familiar setting, a “… winter evening”(1). This is associated with a lack of growth and a loss of vitality. It also describes death and desolation. This does not last long when we are confronted,” with smells of steaks in passageways”(2) paints a picture of a polluted and mundane environment. The precise use of descriptive words composes this mood of decline and despair. As seen when you read ” …the burnt-out ends of smoky days”(4).
His ungratefulness as a child has now emerged on him, leaving the speaker ashamed of taking his father’s hard work for granted. In this poem he writes, “…fearing the chronic angers of that house//Speaking indifferently to him/who had driven out the cold…” (Hayden, 17). When he quotes “fearing chronic angers”, the speaker refers to his view of life as a child, and how he interpreted his father’s agony and self-sacrifice as anger towards him. With an apathetic and cold attitude that accompanied his youth, he did not recognize the love that his father had for him. Hayden also writes, “What did I know, What did I know…” (Hayden 17). Repeating this rhetorical question twice it is obvious that the speaker, now as an adult, feels deep remorse over the way he had treated his father. With a matured mind, Hayden came to the realization that love comes in all shapes and forms, and his father’s love was shown through his selfless
While reading the poem the reader can imply that the father provides for his wife and son, but deals with the stress of having to work hard in a bad way. He may do what it takes to make sure his family is stable, but while doing so he is getting drunk and beating his son. For example, in lines 1 and 2, “The whisky on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy” symbolizes how much the father was drinking. He was drinking so much, the scent was too much to take. Lines 7 and 8, “My mother’s countenance, Could not unfrown itself.” This helps the reader understand the mother’s perspective on things. She is unhappy seeing what is going on which is why she is frowning. Although she never says anything it can be implied that because of the fact that the mother never speaks up just shows how scared she could be of her drunk husband. Lines 9 and 10, “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle”, with this line the reader is able to see using imagery that the father is a hard worker because as said above his knuckle was battered. The reader can also take this in a different direction by saying that his hand was battered from beating his child as well. Lastly, lines 13 and 14, “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt” As well as the quote above this quote shows that the father was beating his child with his dirty hand from all the work the father has
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
In the first stanza, Hayden describes the father’s morning; the father “got up early” and “put his clothes on.” (1-2) Then, later in the second stanza when describing the son’s morning, Hayden uses the words “rise” and “dress” (8). Although the father and son perform identical actions, the descriptions of those actions are completely different. While “got up early” and “put his clothes on” are common phrases people use daily, “rise” and “dress” sound more graceful and perhaps more educated. The difference in the description of the father’s morning versus the speaker’s morning allude to the idea that the son has a better or easier life than the father. In the third stanza, Hayden wrote, “Speaking indifferently to him, / who had driven out the cold / and polished my good shoes” (10-12). These lines give the reader insight in regards to the narrator’s perception of his father as a child and his perceptions now as an adult. Hayden allows one to infer the narrator’s feelings as a child towards his father by the way the narrator speaks to him – indifferently. The narrator did not think much of his
The overwhelming amount of college students deaths caused by binge drinking has increased greatly by about 44 percent. To go along with the amount of deaths is the amount of life long injuries one may obtain from binge drinking. As David L. Marcus states, in recent newspapers, headlines are troubling. “ A 20-year-old student at Georgetown University dies in a fight after drinking. A fraternity member at the University of Michigan shoots a 19-year-old pledge with a pellet gun at a keg party. A party at Washington State University turns into a 500-student brawl.” (David L. Marcus)
There are many consequences of binge drinking. Health problems and social problems are just a few. Nausea, having a “hangover” and memory loss are just a few of the short-term effects of binge drinking. The more serious and long-term consequences of binge drinking can result in higher chances of stroke, heart disease, and brain tumors
Although Huxley’s description of the future seemed improbable, his theory is currently becoming a reality through inheritable genetic modifications and reproduct...
... conducted has revealed that binge drinking may have substantial effects that may even lead to death. The capacity to pursue life goals can be compromised by teenage binge drinking. With the knowledge of the causes, interventions can be formulated to counter the problem.
Yet when Huxley published the book in 1932, the concepts most frightening in the novel (babies conceived in the laboratory, gene splicing and reproduction, and pharmaceutical wonder drugs to relieve psychic pain) were not realities. With the successful cloning of farm animals, the development of invitro fertilization, and the rampant prescribing of countless wonder dru...
It is a possible and likely treatment to several diseases, through the use of iPSCs. It can also heal injuries and even restore or create new organs by harnessing the untapped power of the stem cell. Finally, despite the major debate regarding cloning concerns how moral it is, due to the past use of embryonic stem cells, novel and more ethical methods have been made. Therapeutic cloning, through these ways and perhaps more, could change all of the ways patients are medically treated. Even more, in the near future therapeutic cloning could revolutionize the entire medical world.
(support: Testimony): “He argues that stem cells, which are derived from six day old cloned human embryos and can form any cell type in the body, could be of enormous benefit for medical research. They could also, in the long term, be used for treating disease—so called therapeutic cloning.” says Debashis Singh, government publishing, in "Cloning/Embryonic Stem
The same can be said for someone who drinks copious amounts of alcohol. According to Aaron Brower and Lisa Carroll of The Journal of American College Health, “The NIAAA defies binge drinking as 5 or more drinks for a man and 4 or more drinks for a woman within the period of 2 hours” (Brower, Carroll 1). Drinking 4 plus drinks in that short amount of time is surely to have an impact on a person’s wellbeing and cognitive functions, and is also pretty dangerous, especially if that person was to go out after consuming the alcohol. And that is exactly the authors point; binge drinking is not only hazardous to the drinker, but those around them as well. For example, in 2004, “alcohol-fueled riots after a [2004] Halloween celebration cost the city of Madison close to half a million dollars” (Brower, Carroll 1). Not only that, but more money was dedicated to the college city of Madison, which had negative effects on Wisconsin as a whole; with extra patrol to make sure college students were being safe, the rest of the city was considered
P- Guzzling Alcohol to the point of intoxication, stomach being pumped by emergency crews and then being hospitalized is how many Australians ages 14-25 are spending their weekends. But for many of these students, intoxication usually is the main goal of drinking. As well as having adverse short-term effects, binge drinking can also cause long-term effects on your health and wellbeing. It is associated with risks to health both in the short and more recently found to cause many long term effects. Binge drinking is immensely harm...