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Essay On Those Winter Sundays

846 Words4 Pages

Lasting Legacies
Since the beginning of time, fathers have been one of the key figures in a boy 's life. In the poems, “Those Winter Sundays” by Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Robert Hayden, and "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, the love between a father and his son are shown in a variety of ways. These three wonderful poems inspire people, especially fathers and sons, to have deep relationships with one another. The words written by Roethke, Hayden, and Heaney show that it is difficult to keep a relationship strong between a father and his son, because even the smallest mistake can destroy it. Each of these poems demonstrate, in their own way, the complicated and strong love between a father and his son. Roethke 's poem, "My Papa 's Waltz," paints a picture of the speaker 's father in the …show more content…

In Hayden 's poem, "Those Winter Sundays," the speaker is haunted by guilt for all the years he never thanked his father. The picture of the speaker 's father up every morning in the "blueblack cold" (869) on his only day off sends a powerful message. Everything the father did was done to make his son 's life a little bit easier. It is sad that "no one ever thanked him" and his son "spoke indifferently to him" (870), and even with the fathers best efforts, his home was still consumed with "chronic angers" (870). No matter how much the father did, the son never noticed his efforts. Now the son 's neglectful attitude towards his father has returned to haunt him. The son finally sees the amount of work it takes to raise a family. He learns how hard life really is, and he understands why he should have respected and admired his father long ago. His father went about his everyday duties quietly, never asking for anything in return. The great sacrifices that the father made for his son proves how much he loved him. The speaker lastly admits that he did not "know of love 's lonely and austere offices" (870). Unfortunately, he realized this a little too late like many

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Parents or caregivers take on many responsibilities that often lead them to making sacrifices for the people they love. An example of this can be seen in the poem titled Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden. The poem has lines that explain a fathers hard-working sacrifices. It says, “Sundays too my father got up early,” and, “then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday-”. This provides a window into what the father may have gone through in order to provide for his family.

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He does not acknowledge the importance of his family until his son betrayed by his father’s absence from his birthday party, wishes his father cannot lie again. It becomes a struggle in the man’s job, and in his daily life, but he eventually learns his lesson and the family is restored. The

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Every story consists of different elements, such as characters, plotlines, and settings. Nonetheless, many stories portray the same messages or ideas. “My Papa’s Waltz,” by Theodore Roethke, depicts a reckless father who is loved by his child, while “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, depicts a hardworking father whose child is indifferent to him. Though the poems depict exceptionally different childhoods, both contribute to the idea that perceptions of parents alter as one grows into adulthood. Both poems use harsh words and critical tones in order to convey this notion, however in “My Papa’s Waltz,” they signify the recklessness of the father and how the narrator perceives his father as an adult, while in “Those Winter Sundays,” they

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In the first reading, the author, Robert Hayden, explains in great detail about how his father had to wake up in the freezing cold to go to work. Before the poem even begins, the book shares his “ambivalence about his father’s sacrifices,” this is an important detail because the poem talks about his father's sacrifices by saying that his father had “cracked hands that ached from labor,” and by saying, “no one ever thanked him.”

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Another example of this, in the last stanza, lines 15-16, is made as Roethke notes “[t]hen waltzed me off to bed/[s]till clinging to your shirt.” The last lines of the poem show the true relationship at the end of all the confusion lost in the midst of the middle of the poem. The father loves his son and waltzes him to bed and the boy, loving his father, slings to his shirt to stay with him. The poem expresses the confusion and complexity created in a relationship such as this one between father and son, but at the end, the confusion is unnecessary and what prevails is not the negatives, but instead the positive aspect of

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“Those Winter Sundays” has a sad dark tone. “Speaking indifferently to him” (Line 10). It is clear that there is little communication between the father and the son. The author remembers how his father woke up early to heat the house and worked hard to provide for the family. Although this poem is much sadder, it still shows love.

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Theodore Roethke’s, “My Papa’s Waltz,” uses a great deal of imagery by using the metaphor of the word “Waltz.” A Waltz is a dance that has a step to every beat of the music, while in close proximities to the other dancer, there is not much change and it is in fact quite repetitive. Already we begin to form an image Roethke is trying to provide us by saying “My Papa’s Waltz.” His usage of the word “Papa” is quite informal compared to the word, “father.” It is only upon reading and analyzing the rest of the poem that we realize the struggle tied to the word.

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In conclusion, “Those Winter Sundays” uses imagery, diction, an emotional appeal to grasp the reader's attention. The last line of the poem reiterates the child regrets of not showing his father appreciation “what did I know, what did I know” What did I know is repeated to twice to show

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According to traditional gender roles, the father is the provider for the family. He is expected to work hard to support and provide for his family’s essential needs: food, shelter, and clothing. Burdened with the responsibility of ensuring the security of the other members of his family, he is sometimes perceived as a distant and detached figure, in contrast with the stereotypical warm and nurturing image of the mother. The father 's burden is further compounded by a socially-perceived expectation that males have to be less emotional as a sign of strength of character. Robert Hayden’s sonnet “Those Winter Sundays” explores some of these dynamics by examining the emotional distance between a father and the son for whom he provides.

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His idiosyncrasy remains loving and understanding, even when his younger son returned home after many of been away with not a penny to his name. The young son showed disobedience to all the goodness his father had offered to him. The young son showed traits such as selfishness as well as being ungrateful. He had no worth for his father’s property nor did he want to work alongside his father on the family farm.

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