Moreover, the narrator remembers that his father used to shine his Sunday shoes. Those small gestures went unnoticed by the young boy, who viewed his silent, cold dad as a formidable family figure. The father's selflessness is further underscored by the first two words of the poem: "Sundays too," (line 1). Reflecting on his childhood, the narrator remembers that even though his father worked like a dog all week, he still wanted to wake up early enough on Sunday to spend time with his son. Ironically, the young narrator could "hear the cold" better than he could hear his father (line 6). His father was as silent as the snow outside, but the young boy was too immature to understand his father's reticence. Children frequently need displays of affection for reassurance and security. His father could not offer verbal love to his son. As a result, the young child learned to fear his father. He believed that the father's silence stemmed from anger...
To have to work so hard his hands ached would have been bad enough for his father, but as the narrator notes, "No one ever thanked him," (line 5).
The "blueblack cold" of a winter morning suggests the touch of cold and the sight of blue frost in the darkness. The "cracked hands" of the father who labors for his living appeals to a sense of cold, harsh touch. The son can "hear the cold splintering" and feel the "banked fires blaze," a contrast of the cold sound of ice and the warm crackling fire, and the contrasting
Robert Hayden is set at a time during the cold climates. However, despite the time frame in which the poem was set, the poem is still applicable to situations not properly set in the cold days of living. What the poet, Robert Hayden, points out is that the labor that the narrator's father expends just to be able to make a well made fire to get out the cold
Called a “beautiful parental love poem” (Zandy vii) and “a meditation on the fraught love between fathers and sons,” (“Those Winter Sundays” 1) Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” captures the conflict between the American Dream and the Great Depression. Hayden’s poem is brief and to the point, its imagery straightforward rather than cloaked in symbolism. As such, the poem reveals itself to the reader and remains dedicated to revealing
Thus while the father is meant to be resting from a difficult work week, he is instead caring for his family. It is important to note the two places in the poem where the reader can see that the narrator has the benefit of hindsight in evaluating his father's good deeds. The first is at the end of the first stanza, where the narrator states "No one ever thanked him"
For example, the word "ring" connotes a wedding ring and it also refers more directly to the "ring of boots" at her feet. The word "lifted" also has a double meaning, one literal and one metaphorical. The mother remembers literally lifting her baby boy in the bathtub, but she contemplates how he is being "lifted" or stolen by his fiance. Her baby boy is leaving her. The word "bedded"
Ex-Basketball Player" by John Updike analyzes a former high-school basketball's life after he has graduated and introduced to the "real world." "Ex-Basketball Player" allows the reader to empathize with Flick Webb, the poem's subject, and see how Flick's life has changed and how it still remains the same. "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden explores similar issues of change and focuses on the sacrifices made in order to live
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now