Hayden goes into detailed explanations of examples of the father's devoted love. His love isn't shown through hugs and kisses, but through caring little things that bring happiness to the speaker's day. This happiness can be seen by the regret the speaker shows when he says things like, "No one ever thanked him"(5). The father's devotion is seen in lines 3-5, "with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze"(3-5). It is evident that the father, regardless of his own cares, makes the effort on those winter Sundays to try to make things a little easier for the speaker. Unseen by the speaker, the loving father has gotten up early and brought warmth into their home, and into the speaker's day. Also, in line 12, "and polished my good shoes as well"(12), the feeling once again is presented of this father doing all he can to take care of the speaker, and show his love through his actions.
This unseen love can also be noticed in the speaker's thoughts. This poem is a reflection of his or her regret for not having been more thankful towards this man who cared so much for him or her. Once again line 5 shows us just how regretful the speaker was, "No one ever thanked him"(5). The use of the exaggerative word, ever, just shows how now the speaker has realized his folly and regrets not being more loving towards the father in turn. Also, in line 10 the word "indifferently" further points out the speaker's realization. In the second to last line "What did I know, What did I know"(13), it seems like the speaker is almost scolding himself for this indifference. This line also especially exemplifies the speaker's regrets. It almost seems like they're are wailing over the fact that they had not been more loving because of the repetition of the question. So, the unseen love of the speaker is not present directly in the poem's text, but can be felt through further analyzation of the poem as one full of regret. Maybe the speaker had not realized this love do to the lack of communication between himself and the father. Line 9, "fearing the chronic angers of that house"(9) makes it seem like the father showed "tough love." His intentions were always good, but maybe he pushed the speaker too hard and led to some lack in communication. This lack of a relationship with the father could be just another reason for the speaker's regret.
"Those Winter Sundays" presents both directly and indirectly the idea of unseen love. Directly when talking about the fathers actions, and indirectly through the reminiscing of the speaker. This poem in its entirety is about regret for taking for granted the love of the father, and not having returned that love, or shared a better relationship with the father.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In today’s world, children need a father figure of some type. Whether this father figure is a brother, uncle, grandfather or friend, the impact of a father has a lasting impression on children. The impression a father lives on a child will have an effect on them for the remainder of their live. In Jimmy Carter’s poem, “I Wanted to Share My Father’s World”, he reveals how every moment with a father, regardless of the situation, should be cherished.…
- 460 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
“Gooseberry Season” is a poem that can be interpreted as blunt and edgeless. This impression is set by the poem’s lack of imagination and visualization. Gooseberry season entails the victim’s last few weeks as he outstays his “vacation” at the narrator’s house. The victim took the narrator’s good nature as an advantage and this led up to his death as he was drowned to his death.…
- 804 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Both Robert Hayden and Theodore Roethke depicts how fathers in both poems love their child, but shows in different ways. “Those Winter Sundays” in line 1 Hayden states “Sundays too my father got up early,” and in line 5 “banked fires blaze.” These lines show how the father in “Those Winter Sundays” always got up early to set up a fire in the house in order warm up the house before the family got up. The father never cared for how early and how cold it was, he would always get up take care of the fire not for himself but for the family. This shows how the father is always there for the family but is not upfront with showing his love, he shows his love through doing what he thinks with help his family. In contrast, “My Papa’s Waltz” the father…
- 226 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
In the sonnet “Those Winter Sundays”, the theme is the warmth of the coal fire becomes the warmth of the love that radiates throughout the house. An adult speaker presents memories of how his father expressed love for him through his actions. In particular, the speaker remembers that his father rose very early on Sunday mornings to stoke the furnace fire. Only when the house was warm did he awaken his son to dress. Line 12 notes that the father also polished his son's "good shoes," indicating that he will be taking or sending his son to church. Thus, the father takes seriously the moral upbringing of his boy. The phrase "chronic angers" in line 9 is open to interpretation. It could mean that sternly scolds his son from time to time or that arguments are commonplace in the household. It seems clear, though, that he is a good father. He accomplishes his Sunday tasks with aching, skin-cracked hands subjected during the week to the fierce cold he endures on the job. The adult speaker regrets now that he never took the time to thank his father for his concern and love.…
- 867 Words
- 4 Pages
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 -
We start off the poem with Frost imagining a forest of bent birch trees. He wishes that the trees were bent by children playing on them, a nostalgic, childhood merriment that Frost once engaged in when he was a child, but we’ll get more into that later. Despite his lofty indulgence, he knows what really causes the birches to bend, and that is the “ice-storms”. Using this fact, he goes on to elaborate on the beauty of birch trees; such as comparing the falling ice from the trees as “crystal shells”, or as “the inner dome of heaven had fallen” and even going on to say the trailing leaves were “like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair before them over their heads to dry in the sun”. He tends to lose himself in this embellished fabrication…
- 218 Words
- 1 Page
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 -
1. In the opening paragraphs, White's attitude was of reminasance and awe. The nostalgia of his memory shared with us not once but twice. His urge to revisit the lake was strengthened with the readers urge to read just a bit more detail. White claws us into the memory with him, like we were there as a story teller, telling ourselves about what was happening, what it smelled and felt like. His attitude was of a warm "jollity" that invited us to join.…
- 833 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In the poem “Those Winter Sundays”, the speaker is reflecting on his childhood and his lack of real emotion towards his father while he was a young child. When the speaker becomes an adult, he regrets not realizing that his father had his own way of affection towards him. In the present, the speaker realizes how hard and desolate it is to show parental love to someone. The poem‘s diction helps paint a vivid picture to the reader about the emotions in this piece.…
- 610 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The two sons in "Discovery Of a Father" and in "Those Winter Sunday's" by Robert Hayden, dislike their own fathers for not showing love to them. In "Discovery Of a Father Anderson's father loved making up stories about himself, which were a bunch of lies he told the people who listen to his stories. His father lost the family's business due to his kindness. He also out of nowhere leaves Anderson and his mother for days even for months. Anderson's dad has a problem with drinking that he is concerned an alcoholic. He's always with other people from the same town instead of spending…
- 223 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Initially, the poem starts off by epitomizing the father’s tenacity when stating, “Sundays too…” which illustrates that his position as a father is not limited to just Monday through Friday (line 1). Instead, Hayden’s father never seems to stop working. Sundays are archetypically meant to be a day of rest according to many Christian believers. Hayden’s father, however, works hard to make sure his son is ready and looking his finest for church. The father exemplifies this, for example, when he “polishe[s] … [Hayden’s] … good shoes as well” (line 12).…
- 592 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
However we learn that the child, who is now an adult looking back on these events, now acknowledges the hard work and compassionate deeds of the father. The poems structure, a sonnet, allows readers to learn about the dynamic relationship between the father and child. Because the poem is a sonnet it only furthers the argument that it is a love poem. Hayden used his own personal experience as inspiration as he had an estranged relationship with both his foster parents but was specifically worse with his father (Encyclopedia of World Biography). However now Hayden looks back as an adult and has the narrator in the poem parallel his own ideology. Hayden constantly visited his biological parents and was under appreciative of his foster parents. Along with this his foster family was poor and his family most likely worked hard to give him a decent life. However at the time Hayden didn't appreciate it and only as an adult realized his father's loving deeds towards him. Many children don't appreciate their parents until they are more mature or adults and this Hayden is no acceptation to this. The poem is a love poem that shows both the affection of the father and child, now an adult. The different perspective of the narrators creates a vivid image of a child who lives an unsatisfying life due to the father's emotions, which the child sees as hostile. The tone of the poem changes from being, at first sympathetic, then switching to an unappreciative tone, and finally switching to a compassionate tone. However it is at the end of the poem where the narrator acknowledges their father's behavior and finally appreciates it. The narrator even goes to imply that they were wrong by not appreciating their father in the final lines of the…
- 1524 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Robert Hayden writes in “Those Winter Sundays” that love often times requires sacrifice and goes unappreciated. The father is depicted as a serious man that has always worked hard for the benefit of the speaker. Hayden writes “with cracked hands the ached from labor in the weekday weather…” (3-4) for the the reader to understand the effect his hard work has on him. Sundays are typically viewed as a day of rest, however the first line of the poem, “Sundays too my father got up early” (1) demonstrated the love and concern he has for the speaker’s well-being. The father could simply sleep in as it is one of his few days of relaxation, but rather sacrifices sleeping in to keep the house warm. The line, “No one ever thanked him” (5) further addresses…
- 242 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The tone of this poem is a combination of happiness and darkness. The poem can be seen to have a happy tone that Halls shows well. He writes about the father acknowledging his child as his own. “My son.” Hall portrays happy images like a father wrapping his arms around his young child. “I take you in my arms.” The father also makes it known that his presence will live forever in his child. This means the father will always be with the child spiritually. On the other hand, this poem can be taken in a direful tone. Right from the title, Hall throws a dreary feeling toward the…
- 665 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Have you ever seen something that at first glance may look like nothing, but when you dig deeper and deeper into it, you are able to see the true beauty shining through? In the poem, In November by Archibald Lampman, the true beauty of a burned forest is masked by broken ground and charred trees and bush. At first glance, there appears to be nothing remaining but wreckage. However, through the use of personification, visual and kinesthetic imagery and similes, the poet illustrates the theme of finding beauty in all things big and small. Written in a narrative style, the poet forces the reader to see the true beauty of the barren landscape; a landscape waiting, with open arms, to embrace the coming of winter.…
- 732 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays