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Those Winter Sundays Summary

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Recommended: "those winter sundays" by robert hayden essay

The Poem: "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden depicts a man reflecting on the relationship between him and his father. The speaker does not realize all that his father has done for him until he is an adult and laments his regret. I find that there are parts of the poem that I can relate to in regards to my own relationship with my father.

The first stanza of the poem introduces the boys father and uses imagery to convey the fathers pain with the words: "cracked" and "ached". It is inferred that the father works outside in the harsh cold doing long hours of manual labor. The boy and this father probably live in a low income environment. I can personally relate to these lines due to the fact that my father also spends many long hours doing manual labor in sometimes intense conditions for little pay. I easily associate the imagery used to the boy's father to my own as his labor has injured him and worn him in many ways over the years. …show more content…

No one ever thanked him". Sundays is important in this context because it has biblical significance. Sunday is regarded as a day of rest and yet the father was up warming up the house so his son would be warm. Despite this the father was not thanked for his kind gestures by anyone, not even his son. My father much like the speakers works tirelessly and hard for his family. However, I do not relate with the sons ungratefulness quite the same way. In my situation I regret my lack of understanding of my father's struggles when I was

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In the first stanza, the speaker reflects bitingly on his father’s commitment to his joyless job in an “automotive warehouse”. The narrator attitude to his father's commitment is obvious primarily in the imagery he chooses to express his distaste at his father’s choice to work for a paycheque, rather than for his own fulfillment. “A pay cheque over his mouth” suggests that his father hates his job but does not complain about, perhaps because the money to support his family is more important than his own happiness. However, the son does not respect this choice or his father’s commitment to support his family. Rather, he sees this job as shackles, as slavery, the “clocks stretched around his legs” revealing his resentment at his father working to “get his time in”.

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Maintaining a healthy relationship can present some reservations because of the way characters interact with each other and also as a result of bad nurturing. For example, in “Those Winder Sundays and “The Possessive” both authors face discomfort as a result of each protagonist in the poem relying on someone else to make them happy. A level of maturity is the key to understanding one’s self- identity and one’s own independence. In Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays”

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A recurring theme in poetry is father-son relationships; however there are three well written poems that really stand out. The first is a poem written by Robert Hayden called “My Papa’s Waltz”. The second poem was written by Theodore Roethke named “Those Winter Sundays”. Finally the last poem is “Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt”. There are many differences between the father and son in each poem, some easier to catch than others.

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He describes the anguish and pain of being separated from family members, such as when he is taken away from his mother as a young child. For instance, he writes, "I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night" (Chapter 1). This emotional appeal is particularly effective in eliciting sympathy and anger from readers.

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Whilst others may fail to agree, “The Possessive” by Sharon Olds is the most compelling because of the use of figurative language. The author emphasizes the conflicts of a distant parental relationship that leads to further strain on one's connection. First and foremost, by using figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, the author has added a more enthralling aspect to the poem. One simile in particular that stands out is when the narrator describes the new haircut her daughter received. “The blade of new bangs hangs over her red-brown eyes like carbon steel”(Olds, lines 7-8).

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Robert Hayden, an African American author and educator, grew up in the poor streets of Detroit, Michigan. Hayden was a foster child as a result of his dysfunctional biological family. However, being in a foster home was not much of an escape for him. He endured verbal and physical abuse from his foster parents. Because of experiencing such dysfunctionalities, Robert Hayden became socially isolated.

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The narrator states that his father woke up and got dressed “in the blueblack cold” in order to go to work where he developed “cracked hands that ached.” Hayden uses the words “cold,” “cracked,” and “ached” to describe the father’s working conditions; the hard Cs in these words make them sound harsh, and therefore imply that the father’s job is difficult. This enhances readers’ impressions that the father continues to work at his challenging and demanding job in order to provide for his family. Both Hayden and Roethke chose to describe the fathers’ hands to represent the children’s living situations. The father in “Those Winter Sundays” had “cracked hands that ached,” while the father in “My Papa’s Waltz” had “battered” hands.

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All three poems of Hayden were sort of sad from my point of view. In all three poems he reflects how much unappreciated and mistreated African American were by those who believed to own them. Not only that, but in the poem Middle Passage, he says, “That the burning blacks could not be reached, that the Crew abandoned ship” (Hayden, 1962, p. 2374) which basically means they didn’t care enough to go back for them or even try to get them out of there, instead they decided to abandon the ship and leave them to die. Another event to point out in this poem is the last part of the passage which is how they were taking slaves from the Habana and when they killed almost all them, those left were able to steer the ship directly to the American where even though at the beginning they were retain and incarcerated, they were able to gain their freedom and put Cinquez’ or the Prince’s reputation at uncertainty.

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The speaker talks about harvesting and cooking which are usually positive activities, but it creates an unhappy environment. All the speaker talks about are his father and his death, which the reader can conclude with evidence from the text. The speaker also uses a nostalgic tone to show the absence of his father in his life. The speaker cherished his memories with his father and regrets not doing more.

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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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“But I hung on like death” (line 3). “Still clinging to your shirt” (line 16). We can infer that since the boy still hangs on to his father through a difficult task, he loves him very

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“My Father’s Song” describes the close, tender relationship between a father and his son, while “Those Winter Sundays” depicts a more distant, strained relationship between the father and his family. Ortiz’s lively descriptions of pleasant memories, illustrate how the father’s interactions with his son reveal his love and strengthen their relationship. A darker, emotionless tone fills Hayden’s poem as he emphasizes a father’s austere, yet sacrificial love toward his family. These poems both set different examples of how some families choose live out the bond between one

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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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To begin, interactions affect who people become by changing their perspectives on things, and in a similar sense, their beliefs. As displayed in Robert Haynes poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” the narrator who is a son, realized him and his family didn’t show enough appreciation for his father’s daily actions and sacrifices. What seemed to be an indifferent relationship between the father and son at first, it was later evident to the son that his father’s actions were all out of love for him. The poem states from the perspective of the son, “What did I know, what did I know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (Hayden 71).

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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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