Robert Hayden's “Those Winter Sundays”
In Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” a grown person, most likely a man, recounts the winter Sundays of his childhood. He remembers the early morning events that took place and how much the events portrayed his father’s love for him. The man realizes that as a child he failed to appreciate the hard work his father did in order to provide him with some basic necessities and some small additional perks at times. The theme of the poem is sad, and lonely. Assuming that the speaker is a man looking back on his childhood, the child was lonely, and possibly even afraid of the father. The child seemed to associate the father with “the chronic angers of that house.” The speaker, who may also be the author, uses images and imagery to help the reader focus on the important parts of the poem.
Imagery is a plays a major role in this poem. The images used appeal to almost all the reader’s senses with the exception of tastes. Beginning in the first stanza, the reader’s senses of touch and sight are appealed to. For instance, when the speaker described the cracked hands that ached,” the reader sees an older man with dry, cracked hands. This can lead the reader to a number of assumptions again of the man being worn out from his job, or possibly having arthritis which would lead to the dry and sore hands. 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 blueb...
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.
Robert Hayden poem ”Those Winter Sundays” explores his father as an unsung hero and it also presents an acknowledgement of poets lack of gratitude for his father. The speaker reflects on the childhood memories of his father and goes on to find all kinds of disabilities he had in terms of realization regarding the pain father bared for the poet. Story is very emotional in the way that the speaker reveals sacrifices of his father during his childhood throughout the poem. It is agonizing and the words used in the poem are really an expression of desperation and sadness as he is really missing that time. There are a number of sacrifices made by the father during the harsh winter season of writer’s childhood. In his childhood he was not actually aware about the harshness of those lovely and affectionate feelings that his father had about him. In the poem ”Those Winter Sundays” Robert Hayden uses imagery and sound devices to portray his father as an unsung hero and to acknowledge his own lack of gratitude
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
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
To most individuals, a father is not a man who fertilizes a mother’s egg- rather- a father is one who dedicates time and energy for his family as he is the backbone of the household. “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden are two similar poems that speak about the relationship between fathers and their children. Though their fathers were not flawless, in retrospect, respectively, both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden admire their fathers and the sacrifices they made on their family’s behalf. Nevertheless, although both poems appear to be similar in their content, both “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke and “Those
The speakers in “My Papa’s Waltz” and Those Winter Sundays” talks about the relationship between their fathers. The different is that “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that speaks directly to the father, but “Those Winter Sundays” specks about the father. Both Theodore Roethke the writer of “My Papa’s Waltz” and Robert Hayden writer of “Those Winter Sundays”, are two semi-similar poems about the respected of the fathers. The father is not just the man that gave him life, but a person that spends time taking care of them. By doing this, he gains the love and respect of the writers. Both speakers of each poem talks about their admiration of their father for their actions that they did for them; although, they both understand they were not perfect.
As a human being, one tends to be unaware of his surroundings and the ways in which each event in our daily lives has a significant impact on the future. This fact is often shown through the action of one’s parents, and the children coming of age to finally realize the ways of their elders. In Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz,” both speakers undergo a coming of age in which they figure out the true intentions of their respective fathers. Although the theme of both poems, being that one does not often realize what their parents do for them as a child, is very similar, there are inherent differenced that shape each poem. The diction, use of motif, and structure of each poem gives them distinct differences while discussing a common theme.
The differences between “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke poems is noticeable, and their similarities aren’t noticeable. Thus, Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden describe the relationship a father and son and the way they communicate. Yet, these two relationships could not be more different. In the Roethke’s poem, the speaker had a strong and positive relationship with his father that couldn't be expressed as well as Hayden's relationship with his father. In fact, the fathers’ ability to communicate with their sons was physically, rather than verbally. Also, both poems use negative aspects, fatherly love, and understanding for their father. In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” describes the
Love is not just a feeling, but a commitment and sacrifice as well. In “Those Winter Sundays”, author Robert Hayden tells the story of a hardworking father waking up in the cold to kindle a fire, while his indolent son ungratefully slumps from his warm bed. The relationship between these two show that love can be shown in a variety of ways, but the diction and figurative language used by Hayden convey that sacrifice is the most subtle approach.
Many people don’t recognize others’ expressions of love. For instance, children may not realize that simple actions made by their parents are their parents’ way of saying “I love you.” In the poem Those Winter Sundays, Robert Hayden describes an adult who regrets not appreciating his father as a child, and who now has a better understanding of the challenging and sometimes lonely responsibilities of a parent. The way in which Hayden describes the father’s and the narrator’s actions, his use of K and hard C words, and his portrayal of love in the last line of the poem illuminate Those Winter Sundays’ message that parents will do and sacrifice anything for their children out of love and, therefore, one should take time to appreciate them.
In our daily lives, we often hear about amazing acts of kindness strangers do for other strangers, but we never stop to realize all the little acts people, who love us, do. In Robert Hayden's poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” the son is reminiscing about Sunday mornings and his father. The son realizes all the work his father did was because of the father’s love for him. Robert Hayden’s multitude of elements elicits the idea that true love requires sacrifice.
Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” depicts a man remembering and examining his childhood. The speaker recalls how his father worked tirelessly despite receiving no recognition or appreciation. The father continued to labor everyday for his family because the strength of his love overpowered the despair of the thankless job that his son could not understand.
Imagery consists of descriptive language that can function as a way for the reader to better imagine which draws on the five senses, namely the details of taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound. As the author describes the feelings and emotions about letting go of their son, she uses imagery to describe the way they are feeling and their actions. For example, “Where two weeks ago, / holding a hand, he’d dawdle, dreamy, slow,” (lines 13-14). The example of imagery is the sense of touch when describing her son’s walk to school while holding his hand when he was not alone. This adds the meaning of the poem because he is comfortable walking with his parents but becomes more nervous and anxious when not comforted by them. The imagery adds to the effect of its
The poet uses examples of imagery in this poem. The poet uses a simile in the first line of the first stanza to start off the poem. The simile she uses is ''the skin cracks like a pod''. The opening of the poem gives a clear message that something is severely wrong. A pod cracks with barely any resistance so the comparison to the skin is a unreserved statement outlining how easily the skin is. There is obviously a drought or a vast undersupply of water. The opening surprises the reader and gives an indication of what is to come. The poet uses a short and abrupt line which is effective
As children, we all view our relationship with our parents as something sacred. If suddenly that relationship began to fade little by little one would feel a great amount of sorrow. Poet, Robert Hayden, captured this complicated child and parent relationship in his free verse poem, “Those Winter Sundays.” In “Those Winter Sundays”, Hayden uses multiple literary devices and rhetorical methods to illustrate his feelings towards a tricky father and child relationship.