Denotation Of Love In Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

In the poem, “Those Winter Sundays”, Robert Hayden plays on various denotations of the word “office” to make clear that love often means taking on duties and responsibilities. The word appears in the last sentence of the poem and it’s ambiguous definition leaves the reader with room to interpret the word with various denotations: “What did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (13-14). This ambiguity therefore holds a great deal of influence over the reading of the poem as whole. The one word expresses the multitude of duties and feelings a father might do and express in regard to his love for his children. Here, the “lonely and austere offices” (14) possessively stem from love. By giving love, an intangible feeling …show more content…
He explains that his father would wake early every Sunday to light fires to warm the home. This action is made to be a powerful one because Sunday’s are often viewed as a day of rest, and the father who had “cracked hands that ached / from labor in the weekday weather” (4), religiously took it upon himself to wake early, despite working a long rigorous week, to heat the house for his family. The speaker goes on to say that the father’s labors often went unrecognized as “No one ever thanked him.” (5). The second stanza the speaker explains that he was fearful of the “chronic angers of that house” (9), setting a somber dark tone. He then would speak “indifferently” (10) to his father who had done a lot for him. It is in the last two lines that the speaker laments his attitude and the word office appears, which contributes to what message one takes away from duties and love as they finish the …show more content…
The offices therefore, under this denotation, mean love’s workplaces, which in the poem I see as being the house. The house is the workplace of the father. By employing this denotation, by saying that love has austere and lonely offices, it becomes apparent that love goes hand in hand with labor/work. The father worked hard even on days off and his son’s indifference and ungratefulness would presumably have a great effect upon him and their relationship. This denotation implies that love is the reason behind the work that the father is doing in the poem, not an expectation of gratitude or thanks for his work. The speakers remorseful tone emphasises how much he regrets not recognizing the love behind his father’s actions. Since the loving acts of the father was met without appreciation or reciprocation, they come to be “austere” and “lonely”. He acts from love, knowing full well that his acts will go unnoticed and