Imagery In Those Winter Sundays

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In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, the visual imagery is seeing that the child might be thankful for everything their father does for them, but he/she does not show it as much as they should. In the poem there is proof when he says, “No one ever thanked him”(Line 5). This meant as if the child regretted it as they got older because they said, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices” (Line 13-14). They felt the parents had a duty to take care of their children no matter what and how ungrateful they seemed to be. In the beginning the poem is abruptly because the second word “too”, of the very first line of the poem assumes actions that has previously being going on before. The father getting up early on other days as well as Sundays to help his family. "With cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday"(Lines 3-4). The narrator explains how the father worked very hard …show more content…

He is saying the offices are standing for a duty or obligation. He also uses repetition in this line when he says “What did I know" twice showing the speaker's feeling of regret for not understanding how hard his father worked every single morning. Also in lines 13 and 14 explains that the speakers childhood was unhappy. He didn’t know much about love so he was not able to appreciate it whenever his father showed him love. In the poem the speaker stated, “And polished my good shoes as well” (Line 12). He is basically showing how much love he has for his son because he was polishing his shoes before even waking him up. All of these things that the father is doing for his son is done without anyone helping him. The speaker is unaware of these emotions which drives his father to surrender his own comfort. At this point the father now sees that his actions are only a necessary

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