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Interpretation of robert hayden's winter sundays essay
Literary analysis of two kinds
Those winter sundays stylistic analysis
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A Speaker’s Reflections
Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” is a reflection the speaker has regarding his father. An analysis of the poem’s tone and language reveals the speaker regrets his father did so much for the family and “no one ever thanked him”. It is obvious the speaker feels regret for the way he behaved toward his father in the past by examining the phrases in the poem, particularly with the description of the father. The connotations of the language used in this description denote the father in a certain way that the speaker did not see him as before. The tone and feeling of regret or sorrow is evident in the poem not only through language and word choice on the literal surface, but also in the structure of the poem itself.
The poem indicates the father as hardworking by his description. The speaker reveals the father has “cracked hands that ached from labor” and that “Sundays too” he “got up early” to start a fire and warm the house. As if this gesture is not enough, “He’d call” to his family “when the rooms were warm” so they would not have to endure the “blueblack cold” of a winter morning. The poem also indicates the father doing other chores, such as polishing “my good shoes.” This description of the father is moving, it show he loves his family and is thoughtful enough to do the chores no one else would want to do. The word choice for this description is very interesting, howe...
Take note of how the father approached the mistakes made by his son. "I fouled up some screens once, You broke them out with a chair" I feel showed the negative feeling I got when I read the poem. That also makes me believe that it was an apprenticeship. To me parents even if they get upset at something you do, don't go about things in that matter. The son was trying to learn something from his father and rather than explaining and showing the son how to do it correctly or the mistakes he made the father destroys the work. ...
Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.
This narrator is sad and burdened by the lack of work and by the lack of people that actually know what work is. “You know what work is----if you’re old enough to read this you know what work is, although you may not do it. Forget you.” (Levine 1036) The narrator is waiting for hours in the rain to be lucky enough to get work, however at some point he knows he may be turned away, “to the wasted waiting, to the knowledge that somewhere ahead a man is waiting who will say, “No, we are not hiring today.”” (Levine 1036) The narrator then goes on to also describe the work that relationships require, the one in the poem is between the narrator and his brother. The narrator speaks of a brother that works nights and that he is now disconnected with, he has never said that he loved him, nor kissed his cheek, “You love your brother now suddenly you can hardly stand the love flooding you for your brother, who’s not beside you or behind you or ahead of you because he’s home trying to sleep off a miserable night shift at Cadillac so he can get up by noon to study his German.” (Levine
Before the discovery of Insulin, the life changing hormone that had originated from the research and experiments of Charles Best and Frederick Banting, Type 1 Diabetes was considered to be a death sentence to anyone who was diagnosed with it. It was just a matter of a few months to a year, a countdown until someone found them laying on their deathbed. In the late 1800’s, scientists discovered that by removing the pancreas of a dog, it caused it to suffer from Diabetes. This started a surge of research from many scientists, but no one was able to come up with a cure for this killer disease. That is, until 1921 when Frederick Banting, along with Charles Best, were able to successfully extract insulin fr...
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
The lack of verbal communication between his father and himself can be seen in his poem "Those Winter Sundays." The overall impression of the poem is that love can be communicated in other ways than through words; it can be communicated through everyday, mundane actions. For example, in the poem, the father awakens on "Sundays too" to warm the house with a fire and polish his sons shoes. There is a sense of coldness in the beginning of the poem through the lines:
Until the year 1923 people who suffered from diabetes mellitus were incurable. There life could be shortened to weeks and no amount of oat cures, potato cures, or dietary constrictions could save them. There is only one known “cure” for diabetes and at the time it was yet to be found. In 1920 Doctor Frederick Banting a former University of Toronto graduate, and soldier, opens a clinic in London, Ontario. His life, at the time was falling apart, business was slow, he had very little money resulting in having to be supported by his girlfriends income, whom was considering leaving him, and money from his parents this resulted in plenty of embarrassment. However one cold fall night Banting had been lucky enough to be reading an article called “The Relation of the Islets of Langerhans to Diabetes with Special References to Cases of Pancreatic Lithiasis” by Dr. Moses Barron. The article talked about how the pancreas and islets controls the blood sugar levels in a human. After reading the article Banting had written “Diabetus. Ligate pancreatic ducts of dog. Keep dogs alive till acini degenerate leaving Islets. Try to isolate the internal secreation of these to relieve glycosuria” This vague idea sparked the discovery of what we now know as insulin.
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
Diabetes is a disease that can be devastating to some families, but it is not that bad as it seems. With the correct amount of exercise and moderation, it can be maintained with several different methods. A large part of the United States population has a form of diabetes. Today, there are many treatments that improve the lives of those living with this disease. With the correct understanding, it can be manageable and change the lives of the diabetic and his/her family. Some people may think of this as a bad thing for children to have but with the proper management and exercise, it can be maintained as well as bring a family closer to one another. As a brother of a type 1 diabetic, I know how hard it is to live with it and how to manage it. There are ways which make diabetes safe and manageable. Some methods are similar but most of them are different. The most common method to help manage diabetes is with a pod or a pump, both of which give insulin to the body. The next method is exercise and it can be combined with the pod or the pump to provide an even better managing system. Taking shots is another common method, but requires more work than the others do. While these systems already exist, scientists and companies are already working on different methods to take insulin. For example, an inhalable spray and a pill have been created and are being tested. These two methods would make taking insulin much easier and quicker. A more expensive procedure that has also been created is an artificial pancreas which produces insulin like a normal pancreas. This is a more lengthy and costly procedure which has not shown many benefits yet. Within the coming years, scientists and companies will make breakthroughs on how to man...
The diction helps exemplify the imagery even better, the reader can sense how the speaker’s home felt like as well as the father’s hard work. The speaker awakens to the "splintering, breaking" of the coldness. This allows the audience to feel a sense of how cold it was in the speaker’s house. One can infer that the poem is set in a cold city or town during the winter, which gives the reader an idea of how cold it might be. “Slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house,” represents how the father battles to keep the family away from harm of the cold and darkness, implying that the speaker grew up in poverty. His father’s “cracked hands” shows how hard his father worked to keep his family safe.
While most of us think back to memories of our childhood and our relationships with our parents, we all have what he would call defining moments in our views of motherhood or fatherhood. It is clearly evident that both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have much to say about the roles of fathers in their two poems as well. While the relationships with their fathers differ somewhat, both men are thinking back to a defining moment in their childhood and remembering it with a poem. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" both give the reader a snapshot view of one defining moment in their childhood, and these moments speak about the way these children view their fathers. Told now years later, they understand even more about these moments.
Kirk, Julienne., Stegner, Jane., 2010. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology: Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose: Practical Aspects. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864180/
Imagine not being able to have a snack or candy whenever you want to in a day. Many people have to watch what they eat, especially diabetics because of lack of insulin in their bodies. They have to watch their sugar intake daily and also keep up with insulin shots. Diabetes is a life long disease which isn’t easy to have without new technological advancements. The rapid growth of technology has made health care more successful, specifically in the advancements for the cure and treatments of diabetes.
Many writers use powerful words to portray powerful messages. Whether a writer’s choice of diction is cheerful, bitter, or in Robert Hayden’s case in his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” dismal and painful, it is the diction that formulates the tone of the piece. It is the diction which Hayden so properly places that allows us to read the poem and picture the cold tension of his foster home, and envision the barren home where his poem’s inspiration comes from. Hayden’s tumultuous childhood, along with the unorthodox relationships with his biological parents and foster parents help him to create the strong diction that permeates the dismal tone of “Those Winter Sundays.” Hayden’s ability to both overcome his tribulations and generate enough courage
Globalization is associated with bringing together world economies and cultures. Globalization is a controvertible conception. This allows powerful corporation change local enterprises and in the future make the gaps big between, rich people and poor people. The benefits of an international market to integrated where labour, ideas, capital and goods can be free and to promote the economic development all of the levels in the society. Globalization is a process to interact and integrate among companies, people and the governments of other nations. Globalization is process which international organization, corporations, individuals and communities has become more interconnected with politics, cultures and the earths environment. “It is characterized