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Daystar & Those Winter Sundays

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Daystar & Those Winter Sundays
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. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” the father is described to wake up every morning even on Sundays also, to warm the house up for his child. He worked all week doing labor and “No one ever thanked him” is a hint that people around him were very unappreciative. The narrator, in the last two sentences said, “what did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices” and he realizes what his father was doing for him. He felt that in the beginning his dad didn’t really care for him because the love wasn’t shown upfront with hugs, kisses and words. Now in the poem “Daystar” the mother did everything she could to please her family and she also wasn’t appreciated in what she was offering. She had finally had an hour to herself after the kids went for a nap and then her daughter pops up and the mother has to get right back to work. The mother in this poem is having a hard time having time to herself. She’s trying to please everyone in every way she can and they take her for granted. In both poems, the mother and father are working very hard to maintain their family needs and to keep everything in order. Even in all the great things they do to keep the children happy, the children are still often ungrateful in both of these poems. They both work hard all day and all week long to provide for their family. Love in both poems weren’t shown in hugs or kisses but love was showed by the fathers’ actions and the mothers’ actions in both poems. The love is there although it isn’t being shown by affection

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