“Those Winter Sundays” is a very touching poem. It is written by Robert Hayden who has written many other poems. This paper will talk about the poem “Those Winter Sundays”. In particular we will look at the structure, main idea, and each stanza of the poem.“Those Winter Sundays” has a structure like many other poems. It is written in the first person notation. Often through the poem you would find yourself reading “I’d wake” and “I know”. “Those Winter Sundays” has three stanzas that are separated with even white space. The first stanza consists of five lines followed by the second containing four lines and like the first stanza the last consists of five lines. Although the poem does not seem to rhyme it has a rhythm of its own.In this particular poem, Robert Hayden writes about the relationship of the speaker (child, who is now grown up) with his father. He captures the need of love from a distant father to the child but at the same time, the child admits to his own lack of empathy to his father. Hayden uses specific detail to show that the father cared – the way the father woke up before everyone else to light the fire and polish the shoes. He also describes the conditions of the father’s hands demonstrating that he was a hard worker and still woke up before everyone else to warm up the rooms. The father basically says love in the simple act he does. Like many people I can personally relate to this poem. My father was not always demonstrative and affectionate but during my childhood years he always made sure I had everything I needed. That showed me that my father cared. There is another side to this poem where the child admits to his own lack of empathy to his father. I suppose at that time he never realized what his father was doing. The line, “no one ever thanked him” explain the child’s regrets. In the fir...
