Preview

Those Winter Sundays Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
534 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Those Winter Sundays Essay
Those Winter Sundays

Those Winter Sundays has two types of imagery throughout, tactile and visual. Tactile imagery is a use that describes the feeling of something, visual is the look of something. The author uses imagery throughout the lyric to gesture towards the meaning of the story.
The use of visual imagery is present throughout this poem. Hayden uses it to describe the tone of certain things. “Put his clothes on in the blueblack cold. This describes the outside and the darkness of the winter, the early morning perhaps. Blueblack is visual imagery describing color and look, giving us a look at a dim and gloomy day. This example affects the poem in the way it wants to, it gives it a dark and sad feeling, a feeling of regret, depression
…show more content…
The father’s son is takes his him for granted through all the work his father has done for him. “He put clothes on the blueblack cold”. The cold of the winter is demonstrated in this quote giving us a dark and cold tone of the winter. This darkness is suddenly brightened, “weather made banked fires blaze”. This represents the father’s son originally not caring, taking him for granted, and not thanking him at all. The bright fires blaze represents the son finally appreciating his father for the work he did for him. The son also felt sorry and selfish for his attitude in the past. The weather also represents the feeling of the character and how he acts. The weather is cold, so is the relationship with his dad, then it is warm, as is his relationship with his father. The hot to cold imagery demonstrates the harshness of the weather that his father has to work in everyday. His dad worked purely out of love and care for his family and got no appreciation for it. “No one ever thanked him”, this reveals that the entire family did not care, it was not just his son. In the second stanza the feeling of the weather seems to have an affect on the father. “Hear the cold splintering breaking”, “when the rooms were warm he called me down”. To me this sounds like the father hates the cold, the splintering and breaking represents his anger and frustration. When it is warm and nice he calls his son downstairs representing the comfort of a warm

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As evident by the title of this poem, imagery is a strong technique used in this poem as the author describes with great detail his journey through a sawmill town. This technique is used most in the following phrases: “...down a tilting road, into a distant valley.” And “The sawmill towns, bare hamlets built of boards with perhaps a store”. This has the effect of creating an image in the reader’s mind and making the poem even more real.…

    • 2400 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wintergirls Essay

    • 2234 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In this reasearch, we will focus on the elements of literature; particulary on the theme, character, plot, and point of view of the novel “Wintergirls” by John Steinbeck.…

    • 2234 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better 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
  • Good Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Robert Hayden's, "Those Winter Sundays", is a poem of a son's regret over his inability to honor and appreciate his father during the course of his upbringing. It uses one event to describe a father and son's entire relationship. Actually, "Those Winter Sundays" is a poem written for Robert Hayden's father. Although at first the poem does not seem to be a great tribute to his father, Hayden's admiration and love for his father breaks through the lines.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden is a poem about a how the author is recalling how his father would wake up early on Sundays, a day which is usually a reserved as a day of rest by many, to fix a fire for his family. The mood of this poem is a bit sad. It portrays a father, who deeply cares for his family but doesn't seem to show it by emotions, words, or touching. It also describes a home that isn't very warm in feelings as well as the title" Those Winter Sundays" The author describes the father as being a hard worker, in the line "…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday…", but still even on Sundays--the day of rest, the father works at home to make sure the house is warm for his family. The "blueblack cold described in the poem is now warmed by a father's love. This poem describes the author reminiscing what did not seem obvious at the time, the great love of his father, and the author's regretting to thank his father for all that he did.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The imagery is used to give the reader a sense of what the speaker himself is seeing. In this line, “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor” (7-8) the speaker is describing the setting as it being in the very cold stages of December, while he is in front of a fire, shedding its ashes. Another example is in the line “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me-filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before” (13-14) where the speaker is describing the curtains, waving back and forth, are giving him nightmares, and scary thoughts he has never had before, even after losing…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    parental love need not be shown in obvious ways, it can be shown in the simplest forms but it may be hard to notice or appreciate it at the time it is given, but is always there. In “those winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden stated a lot with very few words. Hayden’s ability to incorporate a lot of meanings to his word, and paint pictures in the minds of his audience, of his dedicated father and his family who showed no gratitude to him was possible due to brilliant use of imagery, metaphor and sound. Lines such as “cracked hands that ache from labor, and polished my good shoes as well,” (Schakel, Ridi 572) invoke thoughts in the mind of the reader of the dedication of his father. However, they don't value his acts of good will, nor did they give him any credit. In many cases, we glance back at one point in our lives with lament. We feel that had it been, we had shown some gratitude, to this one person, our conscience won’t be so hard on us today. This was what Hayden was dealing with.…

    • 1438 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diction In Spring

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In line one she starts off by saying “Mother tried to take her life”, in this quote she refers to her mom as Mother which is a very cold and distant way to refer to one’s mom (Honum 1). She also in the first four lines uses very short sentences that give the tone of someone who is acting distant. This cold and distance syntax is what gives this stanza it winter theme. In the next stanza it goes to spring which symbolizes rebirth and moving forward. The diction used in lines 7-8 are the best example of this, because they say “Birds flew from the woods fingertips” here the word choice of woods meaning something dark and scary, as well as the fact that the birds are escaping from the woods represents getting through a horrible set back in life(Honum). The next stanza uses words like fruit, grass, and daisies which are all things associated with summer. She also uses a much longer sentence. Fall comes last and it talks about how quick things come and go like summer. “Unless it doesn’t stop, like moonlight which has no pace to speak of falling through the cedar limbs, falling through the rock”, this means that like moonlight not all things last forever that everything will eventually slip away(Honum…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another device that Alfred Noyes uses in his poem is imagery. Imagery is when the author uses detailed descriptions to paint a picture in your mind. One example of imagery is, “A coat of the claret velvet.” Another example of it is, “Breeches of brown doeskin.” These lines from the poem are examples of imagery because the author describes what the articles of clothing are, and what they look like, in order to make you imagine what they would look like in…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 2248 Words
    • 9 Pages

    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”.…

    • 2248 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those Winter Sundays

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hayden begins the poem with the words “Sundays too”[stanza 1 line 1] to set the mood of the poem. Sunday is considered a day of rest, yet the boy’s father braves the harsh and unforgiving winter to cut firewood. Hayden continues to state that his father rose before dawn to warm the house so that his family would wake to a warm home, “my father got up early and put his clothes”[stanza 1 line 2-3]. Hayden adds an element of pain through the sounds of select words. He utilizes the “c” sound, which adds the sound of physical pain. This is especially evident in the line, “cracked hands that ached”[stanza 1 line 3]. Lines two and three continue to describe the conditions in which the father had to work in. The “blueblack cold”[stanza 1 line 2] serves as imagery of…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The child immediately starts describing his actions by saying, “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueback cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday” (1-4). The narrator establishes from the very first lines of the poem that the man is a blue-collar worker, which connotes an unglamorous lifestyle with backbreaking work and low pay. There is no flash in this poem whatsoever; it is the antithesis of luster. He proves time and time again that his love for his family is more important than taking the weekend off and resting. There is obvious compassion in his actions, but it is not reciprocated. Toward the end, the child goes on to mention their father as the one “Who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well” (11-12). Through those two lines, the father almost turns into a superhero as he protects the family from the evil and powerful cold. Moreover, his actions show that he does the little things that count too, like polishing shoes. By the conclusion of the poem, the father seems to be the lone bright spot in a dark world and situation that cannot seem to get much bleaker. He embodies a grit and grind nature that should be praised endlessly, but ultimately seems to be…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Identity

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages

    ‘The Young man sensed their disapproval’. This quote expresses the non acceptance within the neighourhood which Winton is writing about. It emphasises the point he is trying to convey as it is telling the reader thoughts the character is feeling about his identity and being accepted, by others in his neighbourhood. Not only that but, Winton used metaphors related to changing seasons to represent the transitions and moods of the characters. ‘As Autumn merged into Winter and the vermilion sunsets were followed by sudden, dark dusks touched with the smell of wood smoke and the sound of roosters crowing days end.’ The season of winter consists of feelings and emotions of coldness, isolation and sadness. In this case Tim Winton contradicts these emotions by using contrast. In his text he expresses a feeling of happiness, growth and coming together during the transition of autumn to winter. This…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poets create poetry based on their lives and experiences. While reading poetry each reader can interpret what the poem is about. The reader can take those words and relate them back to their own lives. While I read the poetry I related the stories to own life and found that these people have problems greater than mine. Poetry taught me that I need to value and appreciate my life because some people have it worse.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    An auditory image is introduced in the second stanza, " I'd wake up and hear the cold splintering, breaking." I interpreted this as the boy hearing the fire that his father man, crackling. The cold "splintering" and "breaking" showed him that his father was powerful, he could "break" the cold out of the house. The warm house on those winter Sundays symbolized the love the father had for his family.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays