“Those Winter Sundays” is a deceptively simple poem
that highlights the sacrifices—often unseen—that parents make for their children
. Written from an adult perspective, the poem sees the speaker reflecting on the parenting style of his father. … The poem thus presents parenting as selfless and often thankless work.
What does winter symbolize in Those Winter Sundays?
The external cold of the winter symbolizes
the coldness in the son’s relationship with his father
. As a child, the speaker does not recognize his father’s love because it does not take the form of cheer and loving words. The cold interior of the house suggests that the family struggles to express love.
Who is the intended audience of Those Winter Sundays?
In essence, the poem is therefore addressed to
everyone who can envision themselves in the speaker’s position
.
How is Sunday contrasted with weekday ‘?
Answer: Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday.
Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries
, and a part of the weekend. In some Eastern countries such as Israel Sunday is a weekday.
What does the speaker recall his father doing in Those Winter Sundays?
Those Winter Sundays is a poem about a memory. The speaker recalls the actions of a father who
each Sunday rises early to dutifully make a fire and polish the good shoes for his son
. It’s only later on in life that the child becomes aware of the sacrifice his father, a hard working parent, made.
What type of poem is Those Winter Sundays?
“Those Winter Sundays” fills the most basic qualification for
a sonnet
: it has fourteen lines. Other than that, it’s not very sonnet-ish. The poem doesn’t rhyme and it’s not written in regular iambic pentameter.
What does love’s austere mean?
Well, through the word “office,”
love
is presented as a duty, as a form of worship, as a responsibility, as an official job. It can be all those things at once. Plus, love is “austere,” or harsh, and as “lonely” as waking at crack of dawn to light the fires for your sleeping family.
What is chronic anger?
Chronic anger is
anger that is most often pervasive, evidenced in the work place, in relationships and in daily life
. It reflects an on-going proneness to become angry as well as a general attitude of hostility.
Why does Hayden repeat the question what did I know?
What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices? The repetition in line 13—”What did I know, what did I know”—just breaks our little hearts. It’s like the speaker is crying haltingly, or catching his breath in these lines,
as he realizes that he knew nothing back then when he was a kid
.
What does the phrase Sundays too mean?
The simple phrase “Sundays too” implies two things. First,
it implies that the father’s actions took place on Sundays as well as on every other day of the week
. … In the rest of the stanza, the poet describes his father’s actions.
What do the poet’s father’s actions indicate?
In the rest of the stanza, the poet describes his father’s actions. He tells us that
after awakening early, his father would get dressed and build a fire
. … The poet says his father dressed “in the blueblack cold,” indicating exactly how early he arose.
What does what did I know what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices mean?
“What did I know, what did I know of Love’s austere and lonely offices?” The line “Love’s austere and lonely offices” is so pathetically true.
Love is simple in nature
yet there is a tendency to make it something glamorous, something beyond its scope. … Because of love, friends and extended family never come first.
What is the imagery in Those Winter Sundays?
In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, the
visual imagery is seeing that the child might be thankful for everything their father does for them, but he/she does not show it as much as they should
. In the poem there is proof when he says, “No one ever thanked him”(Line 5).
What does the speaker mean when he says that he feared the chronic angers of that house?
The speaker feels regret for the lack of gratitude expressed to his parent. When the speaker woke up, he hears the house reacting to the warmth from the fires. His father calls out to the child.
Slowly, the child would dress dreading
the “chronic angers of that house.” This phrase reflects the tone of the poem.
Is driven out the cold a metaphor?
In his making the fire, having “driven out the cold” metaphorically
represents his father’s love
. The connotations in the poem include those of individual words or passages and the large meaning of the poem as a whole. The weather has connotations of emotion. Cold is contrasted to warmth as an emotional tone.
Where is the shift in the poem Those Winter Sundays?
The shift occurs
between lines 12 and 13
when the speaker shifts from what he “remembers” to what he “understands.” In this lesson you will analyze a poem called “Those Winter Sundays.” Think about what this title means to you.
