The Symbolism Of Love In Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

538 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Those winter Sundays Robert Hayden literary essay

Love
“Those Winter Sundays” was written by Robert Hayden. In this poem the writer symbolizes love as winter, which can be very cold at times. Throughout the entire poem the tone is clearly an admiration of his father, but he is unsure why. I think that the speaker is telling us that he’s grown up a hard life with his father. The writer knows that his father loves him but is confused as to why.
Love isn’t supposed to be cold, but it is in most places during the winter. In this poem winter symbolizes the kind of love that the speaker is used to. The love that he has gotten all his life has been cold and distant. He spoke of this right at the beginning of the poem, “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Winter Evening And Stories Of Snow By P. K. Page

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Winter Evening” by Archibald Lampman, and “Stories of Snow” by P.K Page are two poems describing the human experience of winter. Winter is seen, by some, to be blissful, magical and serene. Winter could also be described as pure and heavenly, with the white snow resembling clouds. However, others have a contrasting viewpoint; they paint winter in harsher light, giving the impression that winter is bitter and ruthless. Others still, have a mixed viewpoint and may recognize both the positives and negatives to the season.

    Read More

  • Mnemonic Li Young Lee Summary

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    He is admitting to himself what his father did and he is able to overlook this because he enjoys the little memories he has, even when it’s painful, it is sweet. The blue sweater that is talked about throughout the poem is the source of all the speaker’s memories, which he uses as a mnemonic device. It helps him remember the memories he has with his father. The poem begins with the line, “I was cold once.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Wilbur’s Orchard Trees, January

    538 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem, it seems that somebody is inside his or her dwelling place looking outside at a tree. The person is marveling at how the tree can withstand the cold weather, continuous snow, and other harsh conditions that the winter brings. Witnessed throughout the days of winter by the person in the window, the tree’s bark stays strong, however the winter snow has been able to penetrate it. The tree becomes frozen, but it is strong enough to live throughout the winter until the spring relieves its suffering. When spring finally arrives, the effects of winter can no longer harm the tree. The freezing stage is gone, and the tree can give forth new life and growth in the springtime.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Poems by Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    While most of us think back to memories of our childhood and our relationships with our parents, we all have what he would call defining moments in our views of motherhood or fatherhood. It is clearly evident that both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have much to say about the roles of fathers in their two poems as well. While the relationships with their fathers differ somewhat, both men are thinking back to a defining moment in their childhood and remembering it with a poem. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" both give the reader a snapshot view of one defining moment in their childhood, and these moments speak about the way these children view their fathers. Told now years later, they understand even more about these moments.

    Read More

  • Ballads of Remembrance by Robert Hayden

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lack of verbal communication between his father and himself can be seen in his poem "Those Winter Sundays." The overall impression of the poem is that love can be communicated in other ways than through words; it can be communicated through everyday, mundane actions. For example, in the poem, the father awakens on "Sundays too" to warm the house with a fire and polish his sons shoes. There is a sense of coldness in the beginning of the poem through the lines:

    Read More

  • Poets and Their Fathers: Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, “My Father as a Guitar” by Martin Espada, and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney are three poems that look into the past of the authors and dig up memories of the authors fathers. The poems contain similar conflicts, settings, and themes that are essential in helping the reader understand the heartfelt feelings the authors have for their fathers. With the authors of the three poems all living the gust of their life in the 1900’s, their biographical will be similar and easier to connect with each other.

    Read More

  • Philip Levine and Robert Hayden: What Work is? Those Winter Sundays

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    If I were asked who the most precious people in my life are, I would undoubtedly answer: my family. They were the people whom I could lean on to matter what happens. Nonetheless, after overhearing my mother demanded a divorce, I could not love her as much as how I loved her once because she had crushed my belief on how perfect life was when I had a family. I felt as if she did not love me anymore. Poets like Philip Levine and Robert Hayden understand this feeling and depict it in their poems “What Work Is” and “Those Winter Sundays.” These poems convey how it feels like to not feel love from the family that should have loved us more than anything in the world. Yet, they also convey the reconciliation that these family members finally reach because the speakers can eventually see love, the fundamental component of every family in the world, which is always presence, indeed. Just like I finally comprehended the reason behind my mother’s decision was to protect me from living in poverty after my father lost his job.

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden is a poem about a how the author is recalling how his father would wake up early on Sundays, a day which is usually a reserved as a day of rest by many, to fix a fire for his family. The mood of this poem is a bit sad. It portrays a father, who deeply cares for his family but doesn't seem to show it by emotions, words, or touching. It also describes a home that isn't very warm in feelings as well as the title" Those Winter Sundays" The author describes the father as being a hard worker, in the line "…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday…", but still even on Sundays--the day of rest, the father works at home to make sure the house is warm for his family. The "blueblack cold described in the poem is now warmed by a father's love. This poem describes the author reminiscing what did not seem obvious at the time, the great love of his father, and the author's regretting to thank his father for all that he did.

    Read More

  • Romanticism: Human's Connection With Nature In 'Snowbound'

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a

    Read More

  • A Father's Unfailing Prescence

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem “Those Winter Sundays” displays a past relationship between a child and his father. Hayden makes use of past tense phrases such as “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking” (6) to show the readers that the child is remembering certain events that took place in the past. Although the child’s father did not openly express his love towards him when he was growing up, the child now feels a great amount of guilt for never thanking his father for all the things he actually did for him and his family. This poem proves that love can come in more than one form, and it is not always a completely obvious act.

    Read More

  • I am A rock Paul Simon

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem talks about people being sick of society, and want to be isolated from it. Even in the first line, he made an analogy between December being dark and dingy, by saying "A winter's day - in a deep and dark December." The month of December is usually likened to being cold, dark, and 'dangerous'. He also says that it is a lonely December in the second line where he says "I am alone gazing from my window to the street below" he feels left out, and now wants to be left alone, like an island, or a rock. Like in the second poem, where he says that he "has no need of friendship."

    Read More

  • Diction In Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many writers use powerful words to portray powerful messages. Whether a writer’s choice of diction is cheerful, bitter, or in Robert Hayden’s case in his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” dismal and painful, it is the diction that formulates the tone of the piece. It is the diction which Hayden so properly places that allows us to read the poem and picture the cold tension of his foster home, and envision the barren home where his poem’s inspiration comes from. Hayden’s tumultuous childhood, along with the unorthodox relationships with his biological parents and foster parents help him to create the strong diction that permeates the dismal tone of “Those Winter Sundays.” Hayden’s ability to both overcome his tribulations and generate enough courage

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays Figurative Language

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    Winter, the hardest time of the year, has a normal family living with its father. In this poem, the winter season doesn’t keep the whole family from going to church together. So how does the author of this short poem, Robert Hayden, use language to create meaning in this poem? Before sunrise, the speaker of this poem has a stubborn sister and a hardworking father, and figures out a way to help out his father as much as possible. Before sunrise, the speaker of this poem has a stubborn sister and a hardworking father, and tries to figure out a way to help out his father as much as possible.

    Read More

  • American Romanticism

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...a silence deep and white” (Line,4) they are talking about how the white snow is beautiful and, how it looks like to me this is a love of nature to some maybe not.Last one is Intuition over fact in this quote “Father,who makes the snow?” (Line,22) says his daughter, “And told of the good All father” (Line,23) and lastly “Who cares for us here below” (Line,24) he is talking about and all father which i believe he is talking about god,and this is a great characteristic for this poem.

    Read More

  • Those Winter Sundays Literary Devices

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first stanza, the audience is introduced to the personality and devotion Hayden’s father has. Hayden chose the title carefully to dignify the repetitive cold Winter Sundays he and his father overcame. Knowing winter is usually connected to depression makes the audience understand why those moments may be so dear to him because he cherishes them for their quietness and the positive in the bitter cold. Now, even though Hayden's poem is not full of affectionate actions, it is still a poem of fondness because it exemplifies the love that a father and his offspring have for each other, making this a poem of love.

    Read More

More about The Symbolism Of Love In Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

Open Document