Preview

Analysis Of Those Winter Sundays

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
388 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Those Winter Sundays
Speaker in poetry Christen Borgersrode

I chose to write about “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. This poem was a touching memory as the speaker looked back on how he never thanked his father for all he did on those chilly Sunday mornings.
In lines one through five the speaker talks about how the father would always get up in the early morning, in the “blueblack cold”, and get a fire started to warm the house after working hard that previous week. This shows that the father worked hard to make sure that the son had a warm, comfortable life. The speaker then says how no one ever thanked his father for all he did. The speaker seems to have some sort of remorse or regret that he never thanked his father.
In lines six and seven the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thesis: After realizing the sacrifices his father made, the speaker uses diction and imagery to…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The poem itself is discussing a man's journey from birth to death and how all around him life is interpreted by material possessions. At the beginning of the first stanza, the sentences have been made very short and simple, as if to demonstrate the thoughts of a new born child. The first voice that the baby hears when he is born is Bobby Dazzler, one of Australia's first game shows. The very first thing that the baby hears is not the voice of his mother, nor the voice of his father, but the voice of materialism. This first stanza instantly creates the feeling of a home in the 1950s, where television was something new. The ellipsis that connects the first and second stanzas demonstrates a change in time, in this case, a change of a couple of years.…

    • 1438 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The meaning of “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden is to show the familiar, familial love that is relatable by most people. From the beginning of the story and all throughout the boys shows his father-son love that he does not understand and fully appreciate until he is reminiscing about his father and how he always got up early, even on Sundays. The boy is not just an unappreciative child, he is simply a growing boy; he has a lot to learn. His growing through the poem shows the father-son relationship he only fully understands when he is older.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the poem, the father cannot remember a new story to tell his son. With this, the father starts to think of the upsetting idea that his son will be “packing his shirts…” and leaving. The father then yells and tries to give an explanation for his quietness. This reaction shows the father’s fear of his son leaving and losing him to time. The father’s view of his son leaving involves a plea to tell him one more story and to not leave. This contrast of the father, a man that forgot a new story and the parent in love with his child, makes for a better understanding of the deep relationship the father has with his…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The relationship between father and son seems to be one of tension and distance as conveyed to the readers at first. For instance, the narrator "looks down" at his father digging, as shown in the second stanza, which can either be interpreted in two ways. One way is that the narrator is situated above his father who is in the fields digging, or another way in which the narrator looks down upon his father and sees no value in his occupation. As shown, the narrator's position is above his father because he has an education, which is reinforced from the start: the narrator is a writer, and most likely received more education than his father who is a potato farmer. The mood reinforces the distant relationship between the father and the son. The mood of the poem at first is solemn and grave. This is exemplified in the onomatopoeia; "a clean, rasping sound" In…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke describe the emotional and personal relationship between the son and their father. Both narrators seem to be reflecting on a childhood memory of their father. The two poems, “Those Winter Sundays” and “My Papa’s Waltz,” show a father’s love for his family. “Those Winter Sundays” in line 12, Hayden states, “Polished my good shoes as well.” In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” (line 13-14), Roethke speaks, “You beat time on my head, with a palm caked hard by dirt.” The narrators indicate that their fathers were hard working and took care of their family. The two poems are parallel in topic, but differ in theme and voice of the narrator and tone.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poems “Daystar” by Rita Dove and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden share many similar themes. The main theme that these two poems share is being unappreciated. Both narrators used specific language and imagery to support this theme.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Feliks Skrzynecki

    • 736 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The first verse of the third stanza - ‘His Polish friends -’ again shows a sense of ownership and belonging by the use of possessive pro noun. It also states a cultural reference and shows how the son feels as if he doesn’t belong. ‘Talking, they reminisced…’ this line reflects how this group of men hold a shared past and highlights the sense of ‘brotherhood’. All of this ‘Did not dull the softness of his blue eyes’, which again signifies the love and admiration the son possesses for his father. Mild and subtle expression is used to symbolise his character through the depiction of his son. Even when…

    • 736 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Upon first reading the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, I was an objective reader who assumed Hayden was looking back with nostalgia at his lost childhood. Without researching the poem, as well as Hayden himself, I had no way of knowing his background as an adopted child to unhappy parents in a dysfunctional household. After reading several sources, I’ve formed a somewhat new outlook on the poem and what it means not only to we the readers, but also to Hayden the poet.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Papas Waltz Analysis

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This gives the audience an idea of the intensity that the little boy is experiencing. Roethke the moves to the third stanza were he incorporates a metaphor “At every step you missed” meaning because of the fathers bad habits he missed parts of his sons life that were important to the son. The author whether he meant to generalize the sons age or not, he gives us a clue of this when he says” My right ear scraped a buckle “. You should notice that Roethke uses the syllable “a” instead of “his” this points out the boys love for his father, and his attitude that his dad could do no wrong. As the author moves to produce the forth stanza he emphasizes the fact that his dad did work hard with imagery “With a palm caked hard by dirt”. Roethke then moves to create an assonance effect by rhyming “hard by dirt “and “to your shirt”. The author then ends with capitalizing on that perfect parent attitude, “Still clinging to your shirt “. This could also be a son wishing for the return of his father. The lucidity and cheerfulness of the rhythm succeed to some extent in hiding the pathos and resentment in the poem. It also exhibits cause and effect because of dad’s alcoholism, the boy’s life was harder than those with sober parents.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The anger that the father feels due to his unfortunate circumstances is prevalent throughout the poem and it leads to a strain on the relationship with the speaker as a child. The troubled economy resulted in the father losing his job; the speaker tells us that it was after this occurred that he…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those Winter Sundays Love

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The poem begins with the speaker's recollection of his father in the morning. Greeted by the "blueblack [sic] cold (line 2)" the father begins his morning labours in "the weekday weather (Line 4)" in order to bring warmth to the household via fire regardless of his "cracked hands that ached from labour" (Line 3). This expresses the typical youth found in familial love in which the child is cared for by his or her parent lovingly, but such love is often overlooked…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Every adult has gone through a phase where they were rebellious towards, or simply didn't appreciate, their parents. While most parents have a great deal of affection for their children, some parents express themselves through their actions. For children who grew up with affectionate parents it may seem hard to visualize what it would be like to have a secluded and strained relationship with them. And unfortunately some children grow up with cold distant parents who have little to no affection for them. Some children have a complicated mix of affection and fretfulness or are filled with angst for no apparent reason. As children, many are unaware of their parent's affection or the struggles that exist from parenthood. I was lucky enough to be…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mother and Parent

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The father implies that unconditionally of the situation he will always be there to support and give love to his daughter. In this poem love and support is a big theme, showing…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.…

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays