Those Winter Sundays Theme

576 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Comment on the theme of the poem and how the structure supports the poem those winter sundays by Robert Hayden

In "Those Winter Sundays" Robert Hayden gives a significant example of a father's love. Through this poem, the author wants to convey a beautiful message regarding the unconditional love a father has for his child. The poem depicts many different ways a father can show his endless love and care.
Many people probably dislike to wake up early, especially on a Sunday morning. But in this poem, the father gets "up early" (line 1). Then the father dresses himself up in the "blueblack cold" (2). Here, cold weather is given a color. Apart from being described as a color, it also gives the reader a sense of coldness. After getting dressed up, the father lights the fire with his splintered hands "that ached" (3). The "cracked hands" (3) and "labor in the weekday" (4) outlines the diligence of the father to help fulfill the needs of his family. It gives a sense of the financial condition of the family being a little weak. …show more content…

The "breaking" (6) of the cold gives a feeling of the rooms getting warm. The father then asks the child to wake up "when the rooms were warm" (7). The child dresses himself quickly when he agitates about the "chronic angers of that house" (9). The father does not want the child to catch cold and hence, he controls "the cold" (11). The father has also kept the "good shoes" (12) ready and polished for the day. Ignoring all the little favors that the father did, the child converses "indifferently to him" (10). Not realizing his father's immense love for him, the child does not really pay any heed to his father's words and his little efforts. The child never appreciates his father. Meaning of some things are understood later in life. Similarly, it is later in life, when the child realizes the significance of his father's love and learns to appraise his father's love. The child, who is now an adult, feels guilty for not appreciating his father's love when he had the

Show More
Related

  • 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

  • Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz and Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden is a poem about a how the author is recalling how his father would wake up early on Sundays, a day which is usually a reserved as a day of rest by many, to fix a fire for his family. The mood of this poem is a bit sad. It portrays a father, who deeply cares for his family but doesn't seem to show it by emotions, words, or touching. It also describes a home that isn't very warm in feelings as well as the title" Those Winter Sundays" The author describes the father as being a hard worker, in the line "…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday…", but still even on Sundays--the day of rest, the father works at home to make sure the house is warm for his family. The "blueblack cold described in the poem is now warmed by a father's love. This poem describes the author reminiscing what did not seem obvious at the time, the great love of his father, and the author's regretting to thank his father for all that he did.

    Read More

  • Love And Fear In My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first line in the poem introduces the fact that the father has been drinking whiskey. Now, most of us know that people have different reactions to alcohol. Some people are funny and like to have a good time, others become pretty mean. Which category the father falls in is hotly debated, however, most agree that the father’s drinking is the catalyst for the events in the rest of the poem be it waltzing or beating. Then comes the line, “But I hung on like death.” This is an incredibly powerful simile. Death has a negative connotation and adds a darkness to the piece as well as creating some very strong and powerful imagery. Also in the vein of imagery, the description of the father’s hands as “battered on one knuckle,” and “palm caked hard by dirt,” are very descriptive. His hands’ knuckles could be battered (which is an intense word that usually indicates some type of violence) from hitting and abusing the boy, or, in tandem with his hands being caked with dirt, just shows that his father is a hard

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem opens with a son talking about his father’s alcoholism, describing that the amount of whiskey his father drank “could make a small boy dizzy” (Roethke) with the effects of alcohol. The figurative dance with addiction is not easy for the boy, but he still “hung on like death” (Roethke), hoping for a brighter outcome. The father and son are in the kitchen, where the amount of the father’s drunken, physical abuse on the child causes pans to fall from kitchen shelves (Roethke). The boy’s mother, however, can only stand to the side and watch the events unfold with a “countenance [that] could not unfrown itself” (Roethke). The boy’s father grabs him by the wrist with a “battered...knuckle” (Roethke). With this interpretation in mind, the cause of the father’s rough hands becomes unclear. His hands could still be rough from a hard day of work, or perhaps his abusive nature has ended with injuries on his hands. The amount of alcohol consumed by the father causes him to stumble, or miss steps, according to the speaker. As the physical abuse continues, the child states he is “still clinging to [his father’s] shirt” (Roethke). This last line hints that, although the father is an abusive drunk, the child still loves his father and clings to this love with the hope that someday things will improve for his

    Read More

  • A Father's Unfailing Prescence

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem “Those Winter Sundays” displays a past relationship between a child and his father. Hayden makes use of past tense phrases such as “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking” (6) to show the readers that the child is remembering certain events that took place in the past. Although the child’s father did not openly express his love towards him when he was growing up, the child now feels a great amount of guilt for never thanking his father for all the things he actually did for him and his family. This poem proves that love can come in more than one form, and it is not always a completely obvious act.

    Read More

  • Father Roles Heaney

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Between the lines of these two poems, you can see the importance that Seamus Heaney, and Theodore Roehtke’s fathers played in their sons lives, by showing them love, and compassion, no matter what hey had chosen to do. Weather it was simply bringing his dad a glass of milk, or dancing around the kitchen without ever wanting to let go, the role of father is one of the biggest roles a man can ever accept. “Digging” and My Papas Waltz” are two great examples of how much difference a father makes if he shows warmth, love, compassion, and possibly most important, understanding.

    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

  • Those Winter Sundays Internal Conflict

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz And The Ballad Of Birmingham Family Bonds

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Family bonds are very important which can determine the ability for a family to get along. They can be between a mother and son, a father and son, or even a whole entire family itself. To some people anything can happen between them and their family relationship and they will get over it, but to others they may hold resentment. Throughout the poems Those Winter Sundays, My Papa’s Waltz, and The Ballad of Birmingham family bonds are tested greatly. In Those Winter Sundays the relationship being shown is between the father and son, with the way the son treats his father. My Papa’s Waltz shows the relationship between a father and son as well, but the son is being beaten by his father. In The Ballad of Birmingham the relationship shown is between

    Read More

  • Responsibility In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    The boy comprehends the severity of the situations he is faced with, such as lack of food or water, and treats his father with the same respect and equality that the man gives him. He insists on sharing his portions with his father when they are uneven, and he remains cautious at all times, even when his father is not. The boy’s fire is fueled by his love for his father, which is shown by the boy’s priority on caring for his father’s wellbeing, just as the man does for him. This love and responsibility, manifesting in the form of self-sacrifice and compassion, lies in direct juxtaposition to the rest of the world, where selfishness and indifference reigns

    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

  • 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

  • My Papa's Waltz, My Papa's Hat, Those Winter Sundays

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mood of the poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” written by Robert Hayden is regretful. The poet describes a cold winter Sunday morning staying in bed until the house is warm. The poet expressed sympathy for his father who got up early on a cold Sunday morning...

    Read More

More about Those Winter Sundays Theme

Open Document