Those Winter Sundays Literary Devices

Yanet Renteria Soriano

Poem: “Those Winter Sundays”

Author: Robert Hayden

Literary Analysis

• Summary/Basic knowledge: The poem presents a hard working father who spends most of his time at work to give his family everything they need. His child is revealing to the audience what the relationship was between one another. As time passes the audience realizes that the child changes his or her perception regarding the father as time passes.

• Narrator: The author does not reveal the sexuality of the narrator. There is no physical description of the narrator. The poem is told in first person narration. The narrator of this poem is the child of the hard working father. In the beginning of the poem the narrator reveals previous experiences he or she had with the father. Later on, the narrator reveals that he or she is an adult already reflecting on the relationship between the father. As the narrator ages so do the feelings he or she had towards the father.

• Structure of Poem: A short poem that consists of 14 lines. The poem considered to lyric because the poet through the narrator is revealing all

In the beginning of the poem the poet wants us to know how cold it was during that memory. The poet uses the sense of hearing and feeling so the reader could imagine an early winter morning when he says “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, break” (Hayden 6). The reader can now knows the poet wants them to understand the weather was harsh. The imagery helps the poet set the mood in the poem. Later on, the poet reveals that the weather is becoming warmer and comforting. The poet mentions “speaking indifferently to him,/ who had driven out the cold/ and polished my good shoes well” (Hayden 10-12). The reader is now presented with different images from the beginning. One can picture a warm home filled with appreciation towards the father who made all that