Those Winter Sundays: -
Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early And put his clothes on in the blueback 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?
Literal Meaning of “Those Winter Sundays” This is a beautiful poem by Robert Hayden where he tries to express his childhood memories with the pen of a grown person. The poem is a dramatized event that made him realize the lack of love and respect for the father which he deserved truly. Though it was a Sunday, my father got up early and got dressed in his coat to face the cold outside. Due to the intense labour which my father was doing in weekdays, his hands ached and pained. But nobody thanked him ever for all his sacrifices. Lying in the bed, I would hear my father splintering the woods in order to keep the room warm. Afterwards, slowly, s lowly, I would rise from my bed be d hearing hear ing my father’s call fearing the anger. Despite of the fact, that I know, that my father polished my shoes and made the house
warm, I would talk in a different manner with him. I did not know why I behaved like that; neither was I knowing the value of love and sacrifices made.
Figurative Meaning of “Those Winter Sundays”
By the poem”Those Winter Sundays,” the poet wants to criticize the way he treated his father in his childhood. The lines clearly indicate the distance and absence of proper communication between the poet and his father. The lines “ What did I know, what did I know/ of love's austere and lonely offices? ” expresses the r egret of the poet towards his father as a grown man. This is not a rhythmic poem and starts with a simple line indicating the tone and mood the poem is set in. The title “Those Winter Sundays” also sets a mentality that it’s cold because its winter and that it’s Sunday and also, that the events took place in the past. As the poet’s father is introduced, it’s set that he is the main topic of the poem. The first line “Sundays too my father got early” implies that the poet’s father was a hard working man who is not ready to take a proper sleep, though the day was Sunday, but decided to continue his duties towards his family. The Blueback cold is a spectacular example of blistering cold of an unheated house which can also be felt lying in the bed. It is palpable that the poet’s father was a very hard worker by the lines, “with cracked hands that ached from labor in weekday weather”. In lines 3 through 5, the father’s effort and pain are then focused upon. “No one ever thanked him” a simple
literal line expresses the feeling for a caring man who did so much for others, yet no one appreciated it.
The poet would lie in the bed hearing all the hard work done by the father as described in the lines,” I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking ”. The poet was aware of all the hard work his father was doing despite of the pain” then with cracked hands that ached” as expressed in the literal line. He would hear the breaking of woods as the speaker’s father tries to rekindle the fire in the stove to warm the house in those winter mornings. Figuratively, the child hears the cold itself was breaking off. This contributes to the dramatic image of the poem. Then when the house was warm enough, the father would call his son to get up, and the son would reluctantly comply. He would rise and dress. The line, fearing the chronic angers of that house, is the line that requires some interpretive power. Many will get misguided from the line” fearing the chronic angers of that house” thinking that the poem is about child a buse by a father. If the angers are literal and belong to people, they not only refer to the father but to that house, meaning anyone else living the residence Despite of the fact that the father was doing his best for the family, the son was not talking enthusiastically with the father “ Speaking indifferently to him”. This creates a contradiction, whether the poet was intentionally talking indifferently or he was not aware of the values of the sacrifices made by the father.” What did I know, what did I know/of love's austere and lonely offices? ” as said by the poet clarifies the contradiction
that the poet was aware of the hard work of the father but being a child, he was not able to understand the true values of the sacrifice.
