Diction In Those Winter Sundays

Love is often overlooked when people are accustomed to its presence. In Robert Hayden’s poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” The narrator recalls how hard his father worked for the comfort of his family without receiving thanks. Parents express their love in indirect ways and are often underappreciated, causing a bittersweet relationship. Through diction, alliteration, and detail, the author conveys how lonely a parent’s love for their child is, and how they do not expect gratitude in return.

The author uses diction to communicate the narrator’s regret towards not acknowledging his father’s love. Afraid of the “chronic” angers from his family at home, the speaker expresses that the view he had on his father was not positive. The negative connotation of

“chronic” invokes the idea that the angers were like an incurable disease that persisted throughout his childhood, causing him to perceive solely the rough, unapproachable exterior of the father. This biased impression of a parent masks the intense care given towards their offspring. Instead of being thankful for the warmth of the house, the speaker is reluctant to face his father and expresses indifference. Now more mature, the narrator realizes how “austere” love can be. Love is not always warm and kind but rather harsh and cold, like the winter Sundays. The speaker looks back on how he treated his father and is filled with remorse because he did not understand the harshness of his behavior. He registers a new understanding of love’s lonely “offices” by recognizing the hard work his father put in for the comfort of the family. Parents are in a position where they are obligated to provide love and care for their children and expect nothing in return. Even though the narrator did not acknowledge his father’s love in the beginning, his regret signifies a form of thanks and respect towards his loving father now.
Through figurative alliteration, the author provides evidence of the father’s hard work. Even though he had “cracked hands that ached” from the “weekday weather,” he continued to work even on a day of rest. The repetition of the first consonant sounds stresses the impact of the arduous labor that is put on the father during regular work days. With hands that are dry and hurt from the cold, the father still puts his household’s needs before his own and does not stop providing for them. Although he is exhausted from the week’s challenges, he continues to sacrifice his own comfort for the comfort of his family. When the father makes “banked fires blaze,” he is heating the house to a pleasant temperature so his family will not have to crawl out of bed in the cold. The repeated “b” sound emphasizes how his caring task brings something powerful into their home. A low fire that does not produce much warmth is thought to be dead and dull, while one that burns brightly is considered to be full of life and warmth. Even with aching hands, the father’s love brings the weak fire back to full, powerful life, which contributes to making their home a warm place to wake up in.
The use of detail in the poem also contributes to what the narrator’s father gives up for the happiness of his family.

When the father wakes and puts his clothes on in the “blueblack cold,” again we see him sacrificing his comfort without appreciation or acknowledgment. The “blueblack” description of cold prompts an image of frostbite, elaborating on the severity of the winter weather. It also adds to the idea of how harsh and lonely love can be when being a responsible parent. Being the only one awake in the frigid early morning, with the absence of warmth and another person’s presence, must be the loneliest time of the fathers day. What wakes the rest of the house and ends this lonesome period is the sound of the cold “splintering” and “breaking.” Like a piece of wood burning in the fire, the cold falls apart and disintegrates, leaving room for warmth to invade their home. The crackling of the fire is what brings movement and life into the morning and is caused by the fathers unacknowledged actions. The narrator takes what his father does for him for granted and never states his appreciation. Waking early in the morning is part of the father’s routine and signifies how hard he is willing to work to make a happy

family.
When doing what’s best, parents are often misunderstood, which obscures their child’s view of their love. Never being thanked, the speaker’s father worked hard and made it so his family could live a content life.The sacrifice of the father’s comfort is what produces an unchallenging path for the narrator to grow up and mature into a person who can recognize his parent’s love. Because children are given an abundance of love and care, they do not recognize how lonely their parent’s love for them is until the grow up to be thankful for how they were raised.