Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” is a poem about being ungrateful for things done everyday. Composed of three main sections, not by stanzas but by line breaks. In the first section, the speaker describes how his father rose early during his childhood, even on Sundays, to do chores. In the second section, the speaker describes how he got up later after his father was already done with all the work. In the final two lines, the speaker explains his regret for failing to understand his father’s selfless efforts.
Through the use of speaker, punctuation and imagery the author is able to convey a sense of regret and distance between the narrator and his father. This poem is broken down into three distinct stanzas, which are used to highlight …show more content…
This is a stark contrast to the hard workingman who ensured that the house was warm every morning. This juxtaposition is the reason for the clear break between these two stanzas. Once again, there is a large break between the second and third stanzas and this is due to the emotional gap between the father and son. In the third stanza, the narrator acknowledges that he would “speak indifferently” to him. As a father that has provided for the family, one would assume that the son would treat him with respect. Instead, the son does not show his father the respect he deserves. This clear break between stanzas once again represents the divide between this father and …show more content…
The father puts his clothes on in the “blueblack cold” in the beginning of the first stanza, which ends with “fire blaze”, a symbol of heat. This establishes the connection that the father is a source of warmth. In the second stanza, the cool imagery is established in association to the son who sits in the “cold room” that is “splintering” and “breaking”. Not until the father builds a fire can the narrator say that “the rooms were warm”. Using the imagery of warm and cool ultimately proves that the son relies heavily on his father and therefore is at fault for not showing him the respect he deserved as both a provider and authority figure in the son’s
Through the use of speaker, punctuation and imagery the author is able to convey a sense of regret and distance between the narrator and his father. This poem is broken down into three distinct stanzas, which are used to highlight …show more content…
This is a stark contrast to the hard workingman who ensured that the house was warm every morning. This juxtaposition is the reason for the clear break between these two stanzas. Once again, there is a large break between the second and third stanzas and this is due to the emotional gap between the father and son. In the third stanza, the narrator acknowledges that he would “speak indifferently” to him. As a father that has provided for the family, one would assume that the son would treat him with respect. Instead, the son does not show his father the respect he deserves. This clear break between stanzas once again represents the divide between this father and …show more content…
The father puts his clothes on in the “blueblack cold” in the beginning of the first stanza, which ends with “fire blaze”, a symbol of heat. This establishes the connection that the father is a source of warmth. In the second stanza, the cool imagery is established in association to the son who sits in the “cold room” that is “splintering” and “breaking”. Not until the father builds a fire can the narrator say that “the rooms were warm”. Using the imagery of warm and cool ultimately proves that the son relies heavily on his father and therefore is at fault for not showing him the respect he deserved as both a provider and authority figure in the son’s