Compare And Contrast Zimmer In Grade School And Those Winter Sundays

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Childhood Memories Our childhood memories always remain with us. These memories can be either pleasant or distressing. For some reason unpleasant childhood memories are easier to recall than the pleasant ones. In both poems “Zimmer in Grade School”, by Paul Zimmer and “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden, speakers express their childhood memories. The speaker in “Zimmer in Grade School”, addresses the unpleasant memories of his grade school. While the speaker in “Those Winter Sundays”, expresses remorse and repentance towards his hard working father who was not appreciated enough during his childhood. Even though both poems are different, I have been through similar situations and can entirely relate to the emotions described in these poems. …show more content…

I asked myself the same question twenty years ago because I hated grade school. I also asked God, why I was born, and sent to school with a bunch of mean children. Like Zimmer, I recall getting into small fights with other girls. I was not a tormenter, but a victim of bullying. Due to my shy behavior, I easily attracted bullies to abuse me. Like Zimmer, mucus would flow from my nose not because of fighting, but due to crying out loud. Moreover, in the poem, speaker mentions “my knuckles puffed from combat and the old nun’s ruler” (6-7). After being tortured, the bullies would blame everything on me. My teacher would smack my knuckles with ruler because the bullies portrayed me as the villain who always started