Analysis of Poem

728 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Parent child relationships in literature poetry

The poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden shows us how love can be presented in a way that is not necessarily obvious at the time. The speaker of the poem is an adult, most likely a male, which is looking back on his childhood and seeing a different perspective than he did so many years ago. This child’s father is the main character throughout the short, but powerful sonnet. The title of the poem displays a few ideas to the audience. First, it is winter which means it is cold and secondly, that it is Sunday. Sunday has always been seen as the “holy day” and even more so in the days in which the poem was written. Sunday is a day of rest and no work should be done. The most important word in the first line of the poem is “too”. It shows us that on Sundays, along with every other day of the week, this man gets up early to take care of his family. The first stanza has a powerful message packed in to the five lines. The father is up before anyone else, in the dark coldness of the home, getting dressed, and making fires to keep everyone else warm. This stanza also shows the father was a hardworking man “with cracked hands that ached from labor in the week day weather.(3-4)” The last line “No one ever thanked him(5)” demonstrates that no one appreciates what he did to keep them warm and the devotion he has to his family. The second stanza is from the child’s point of view. He is doing the same thing his father did by rising and getting dressed, but he did it in the warmth of the fire his father had suffered to start. After describing the bitter cold that his father was up in, he states “When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress(7)” which illustrates that it is already nice in the house... ... middle of paper ... ...good shoes as well”. The art of repetition in the last lines “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” puts more emphasis on the emotion behind the words. It brings forth a boy that is now a man and fully understanding the wrongs he did to this man who loved him so. This is a man who truly regrets not understanding the affection his father had shown him all those years ago and he only wishes he had. I chose the mode of this poem to be thematic. The theme of love drives the understanding of the poem for readers. Although the love the father feels for his child is not directly stated and the son my not have realized the affection his father was showing him as a child, it is understood by the reader because of the actions of the father. Works Cited Robert Hayden. "Those Winter Sundays". www.poets.org. Last accessed 3.9.2014

Show More
Related

  • Literary Techniques In Li-Young Lee

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem, A Story, is written in the third person point of view. Thereby, allowing the audience to grasp onto the sentimental emotions of the father. The story begins with the depiction of the father as a “sad...man who is asked

    Read More

  • Bruce Dawe - Americanized

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother’s love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap.

    Read More

  • Poets and Their Fathers: Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    The choice of words that Robert Hayden uses is not complicated, which makes it easy to read and understand at first glance and produces imagery of gloom and cold changing to warmth and light. The poem's theme is about a son that did not appreciate what the father did everyday for him and never thanked his father for that. The central meaning of the poem can be understood in either a negative way or a positive one towards the father. The child would weak up fearing the father because of his toughness "and ...

    Read More

  • Personification of War in "Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind"

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, as one sees the form of the poem, the structure seem simple with five stanzas and an indentation in stanzas two and four; but as one closely analyzes it, it can be noted that there is an intricate pattern. For instance, stanzas 1 and 3 have five lines each also known as cinquains, while stanza two and four are sestets. In addition, stanzas one and three have the same amount of syllables within their corresponding lines and stanza two and four follow the same rule. The way that the poem is organized makes the tone both melancholy and systematic as if the speaker were a sergeant giving orders to the soldiers or in this case to the maidens, the children and mothers. Another reason why the tone sounds both depressing and formal is because of the regular use of caesuras, specifically at the end of the stanzas where it demands of the family, “Do not weep” (line 4). Since this phrase is repeated four times in the poem it has a strong impact on the tone, given that the phrase is so short and sharp. Moreover, the indented second and fourth stanza are significant because it is in these, that the poetic voice repeats the theme ve...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Those Winter Sundays And My Papa's Waltz

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poems “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke contain a multitude of different symbols, diction, and figurative language that contribute to the themes of the poems. Although the themes are not identical in the two poems, they contain a basic gist that unites the theme of love and admiration between child and father. The fathers in both poems are extremely similar, described with blue collar, industrial characteristics and a unique way of displaying affection. The theme of love in Hayden’s, “Those Winter Sundays” is similar to the theme of admiration in Roethke’s, “My Papa’s Waltz” in the sense of how a father and child relationship connects through love.

    Read More

  • A Literary Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and

    Read More

  • Ballads of Remembrance by Robert Hayden

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    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:

    Read More

  • Diction In Those Winter Sundays

    191 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” the author, Robert Hayden, uses descriptive and colloquial diction to further emphasize the harsh and lonely tasks his father performed to show the love he had for his son in an unconventional way. Hayden uses cacophonous words such as “cracked”, “splintering”, “ached” and “banked” to stress the stark chores his father did without being asked or thanked. Instead of traditional displays of affection like hugs and kisses, his father is humble when doing gritty work to support his family. The author also uses concrete and denotative words when describing everything his father did up until the last line where he uses abstract words such as “love”, “austere” and “lonely”. This further demonstrates the limited perspective

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays Internal Conflict

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    The central conflict in Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays”, is the unfortunate realization that the speaker never truly thanked or appreciated his father’s sacrifices when he was a child. After growing up, taking on responsibilities, and achieving a rehabilitated understanding of the world through experience, Hayden expresses his ingratitude that often accompanies with youth. The first line of the first stanza writes, “Sundays too my father got up early/and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold” (Hayden, 17). Out of these two lines, the word “too” is filled with importance because Sunday’s are dedicated to either religious practices, or rest for a working man. Fortunately, this was not his father’s case as his father would wake up early in order to perform his loving and self-sacrificing duties.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Poems by Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast My Sonnys Blues And My Papa's Blues

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is no greater bond then a boy and his father, the significant importance of having a father through your young life can help mold you to who you want to become without having emotional distraught or the fear of being neglected. This poem shows the importance in between the lines of how much love is deeply rooted between these two. In a boys life he must look up to his father as a mentor and his best friend, the father teaches the son as much as he can throughout his experience in life and build a strong relationship along the way. As the boy grows up after learning everything his father has taught him, he can provide help for his father at his old-age if problems were to come up in each others

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Poems In 'Those Winter Sundays And Begotten'

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    For my poetry paper I chose to examine poetry from the family album. The family album stood out to me significantly because I thoroughly enjoyed all of the poems because I had a personal connection with it. Family has always been an important part of my life and I think this particular album speaks volume. This album has many levels to it, some deeper than others. I feel that from reading poetry, it expands our ability to think and form ideas that we would have not thought about before. Poetry gives readers the ability to make connections on a deeper level and see things from a different perspective. The two poems that spoke to me in this album specifically were “Those Winter Sundays” By Robert Hayden and “Begotten” by Andrew Hudgins. These two poems are both similar because they are from a son’s point of view, talking about their parent(s). “Those Winter Sundays” was one of my all-time favorite poems from this album because it shows a hard working father who is dedicated to his family, but does not get any recognition for his hard work.

    Read More

  • Unspoken Love: A Reflection on 'Those Winter Sundays'

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The father of the speaker advise him to be wise in making decisions in life, and that he can live his life wisely in all manners of life. The father want the best out of his son and advice his son to live life to the fullest, as if each one may be his last one. The poem tell us that there is consequences in every decision you make in life. While “Those Winter Sundays” is the regret a son pass through for been ignorant of his father sacrifice for him to live a better

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays Analysis Essay

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden is about an adult reflecting on his childhood relationship with his Father. The speaker in the poem describes a normal “Winter Sunday” in his childhood. Using primarily imagery and tone, Hayden reveals the speaker’s feelings towards his relationship with his Father, which is described as “cold,” but in the end, the speaker reveals he was blind to how his Father showed affection.

    Read More

More about Analysis of Poem

Open Document