Those Winter Sundays

“Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, is a beautiful poem. Hayden’s poem tells a grown man’s perspective of his father. In the poem it is clear that there is distance between them and little communication. But it is discovered at the end of the poem, that love is actually present. Although it is only a 14-line poem, it packs remarkable power into each line. The very unrythmed poem begins with a very simple line letting you know what tone and mood the poem is set in. The title “Those Winter Sundays”, also lets you know that it’s cold because its winter and that its Sunday. Also, that the events in the story took place in the past. As the speaker’s father is introduced, I am lead to believe that he is the he will be a main topic of the poem. The speaker in the story gave the image that the father was a hard working man. It is obvious that the father was a very hard worker by the lines, “with cracked hands that ached from labor in weekday weather”. In lines 3 through 5, the father’s effort and suffering are then focused upon. He is also tired from work and is in pain. Yet this is not enough to keep him from the necessary task of making a fire. But his family never thanked him for what he has done or have they acknowledged him. The man recalling the past knew that his father loved him because he didn’t show any affection toward him but little did he know his dad showed his affection by the work he did. So he thought his father was just there to be there and bring in money to help the household. So the poem comes to an end saying, “no one ever thanked him”. In the first stanza it seems that Hayden used great language to emphasize his meanings. Notice the sounds that he uses as he tells the beginning of this story. He is very consistent with the “c” sound which kind of adds the element of pain, especially in the line that says “cracked hands that ached”. Also as the poems continues through the first stanza you hear “weekday”,