Paraphrase Entire Poem Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

Paraphrase Entire Poem

My father also got up early on Sundays and got dressed in the dark of the cold winter morning, then using his damaged hands that were sore from working in the winter weather he built a large fire. No one showed gratitude to him.

I would wake up to the cold cracking of the radiator. My father would call me after the house was finally warm and I would get up and change my clothes because I feared him becoming angry.

I only made small talk with him, the man who kept me warm and cleaned my good shoes. I did not understand, I did not understand the lonely duties and sacrifice of love.

Persona, Characters, and Setting

The persona of the poem “Those Winter Sundays” is likely the author, Robert Hayden, who is writing about

a memory he has from a young age. This age can be estimated by looking closely at the clues found within the poem. In the third stanza he states that his father polishes his shoes so he is young enough that he is not responsible for simple tasks, but still old enough to develop his own feelings about his father unlike a toddler who only worships his parents because he believes they can do no wrong. After evaluating these hints, it can be determined that the boy is between the ages five and ten. The only other mentioned character is the boy’s father, a hardworking and self-sacrificing man who most likely has a bit of a temper. He wakes up early every morning, even on Sundays, during the freezing cold of winter to warm the house so the rest of his family is comfortable when getting out of bed. He also suffers through cracked and achy hands from working in the harsh outdoor weather during the week in order to provide for his family. The author does not spend much time explaining the setting other than it takes place in a house during the early Sunday morning of winter.
Imagery and Tone
The tone of this poem is sentimental and reflective in the sense that the author is looking back at this memory. At the end of the poem he switches to a more guilty tone as he questions how he treated his father who made so many sacrifices for him. In the beginning of the first stanza, the author combines visual and tactile imagery when he uses “blueback cold” to describe how the sky looks as well as how he feels. Auditory imagery is used in the statement “the cold splintering, breaking” to describe what the boy hears when he awakes. This noise is the result of the house’s heating system. It starts when the boy’s father puts coal in the furnace and as it burns, the heat goes through the pipes to the radiators in order to warm the house. The splintering noise is the result of the heat going through the pipes which have frozen during the night because the coal burnt out. The theory that this is what the author meant when explaining the noise comes from the evaluation of other statements in the poem. In the first stanza, the author states that it is early in the morning and cold, so the father must make a fire. This fact, coupled with the knowledge of the heating systems used when the author was a child, would explain the noise in a reasonable way that no other explanation could.
Theme/Central Idea/Title
The title of this poem shows how the author is reflecting back when he the word “Those”, and the rest of the title, “Winter Sundays”, gives the time he is reflecting back on.

The use of these words in their plural form suggests that this memory is the routine on Sunday mornings. Two major themes are love and sacrifice. The father loves his family, but the only way he knows how to show it is through personal sacrifice. He climbs out of his warm bed and braves the freezing cold every morning of the winter to warm the house so his family get up comfortably. He suffers through cracked and achy hands from working in the harsh outdoor weather during the week to provide for his family’s needs. The author is also very reflective of how he treated his father. It is not until he looks back at this memory that he truly understands how much his father loved him and finally recognizes how much he sacrificed to prove it. At this point he regrets continually speaking to him in a distant manner as well as neglecting to thank him. If anything he may have feared his father as a child as shown when he gets out of bed quickly “fearing the chronic angers of that house”. This gives the impression that the father may have a bit of a temper, possibly because he sees all of his hard work was going unnoticed leading him to feels unappreciated by his family. The central idea of guilt is best seen in the last stanza when he admits his indifference to his father and questions what he knew about his love and

sacrifice.
Cacophony and Alliteration
Cacophony and alliteration are used with harsher words that are usually used to describe the more negative aspects of this poem. The words “cracked” and “ached” are used in the first stanza to describe the pain that the father suffers through. The words “workday weather” suggests that the father works outside which means he probably works in very bad conditions for low income. The boy also wakes up to the harsh sounds of “splintering” and “breaking” from the radiator.
Figurative (Rhetorical) Devices
The central irony is one of the biggest elements of this poem. The father is extremely hard working and makes many personal sacrifices, especially regarding his comfort, health and happiness, yet no one thanks him. All of his hard work goes completely unappreciated by his family. Usually anyone who works so hard for someone else has a favorable relationship with them, but that is not the case in this situation. The relationship with his son is very indifferent because the boy fails to realize the love that his father has for him. It is not until years later that the boy realizes his mistakes in how he treated his father, but at this point much time has passed and the damage is already done leaving him full of regret.
Symbolism
The author of this poem puts much emphasis on the cold, but this could symbolize more than just the obvious. In addition to the weather, the cold may also represent the relationship between the father and son, a relationship that has proven to be very detached and ultimately, cold. All of the father hard work is also a symbol of love towards his family. He does not know how to express his love verbally so makes many personal sacrifices which ultimately go unnoticed leaving him feeling alone.
Pathos/Logos/ Ethos
Although the author does not put much emphasis on logos or ethos, he does use pathos in a very significant way. Throughout the entire poem, pathos is used whenever talking about the father’s sacrifices and pain. It is used to make the reader feel more sympathetic towards the father, but also to the boy. The author uses pathos when stating his fear of his father’s anger in stanza in order to get the reader to feel a bit of what he did I that moment. This use of pathos creates a very emotional situation for the readers that leaves them with something to think about.
Personal Impact/Self-Reflection
All through the poem the author shows how he never appreciated his father’s work, leaving him with nothing but guilt and regret in the end. The point is that everyone needs to look around at the people around them and take the time to recognize everything they do for them and truly appreciate it because these special people will not always be around. It is only when someone puts themselves in someone else’s shoes that they truly realize what they are going through and how they are feeling. Appreciating someone only after they are gone only leads to guilt and pain so it is best to appreciate family and friends in the moment, before it is too late.