Those Winter Sundays Group

Question:

sfbaby93
sfbaby93
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In the poem "Those Winter Sundays" from what point in time does the speaker view the subject of matter of the poem?

In the poem "Those Winter Sundays" from what point in time does the speaker view thw subject of matter of the poem? What has happened to him in the interval?Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?

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Posted by sfbaby93 on Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 8:14 AM and tagged with imagery, matter, poetry, robert hayden, subject, those winter sundays.

Answers:


  1. engtchr5 Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Those Winter Sundays is a wonderful poem by Robert Hayden, one of the most influential Harlem Renaissance poets. Next to Langston Hughes, Hayden may be the best-known poet of the Harlem Renaissance, even though his collection of work is not as extensive.

    In the poem, Hayden retrospects to his childhood, and recalls the small acts of kindness that his father performed. There is a bittersweet essence about the poem, as the author recalls how he was never grateful toward his father for the generosity displayed.

    The closing lines of this poem are most frequently discussed in literature classes: "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?"

    The author here expresses the realization that his father was instrumental in his success, and that his father labored in a solitary and quiet way to ensure that success.   

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/those-winter-sundays/

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    Posted by engtchr5 on Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 10:26 AM

  2. ceb
    ceb Student
    Doctorate

    "Those Winter Sundays" describes a son's recollection of his relationship with his father.  When the son was a boy, he didn't appreciate precisely what it meant for his father to warm the rooms of the house in the morning and polish his shoes.  These subtle acts of providing, and love, are regretfully only appreciated by the son as an adult.

    You might want to think about how Hayden uses the notions of cold/heat and light/darkness to comment on the father-son relationship and how the poem explores what it means to be a father.   

     

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/those-winter-sundays/

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    Posted by ceb on Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 4:40 PM