Sunday, February 7, 2010

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden

This poem talks about a boy's father that did a lot of nice things for him. The boy never thanked him because he was scared to talk to his father and he didn't want to make him angry. The boy didn't understand that his father actually did love him a lot. This poem uses imagery (banked fires blaze, cracked hands, blueblack cold), personification (heat the cold splintering, breaking), and metaphor (love's austere and lonely offices). Hayden feels regret that he didn't thank his father and realize that he truly loved him. I think that he wants his readers to feel somewhat sorry for him and his loss and not to make the same mistake that he did. The shift happens when he said he was fearing the chronic angers of that house because before that it was just talking of all the nice things his father did for him. The title is him thinking back to those winter sundays that he spent with his dad. The theme is love speaks in many ways.

I feel really sorry for Hayden because he never did understand his father and was scared of him. I experienced the whole being scared of your dad thing but if my dad had done nice things for me I think I would have realized that he loved me. I know he regrets not thanking him but I'm sure he just didn't know how to.

1 comment:

  1. I think father-son relationships can be complicated in that showing love and affection can sometimes seem womanish.

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