Guillermo Luna Dr.zach Eng 102 6/07/2024. Those Winter Sundays Sacrifice The poem “ Those Winter Sundays “ by Robert Hayden, is about a father’s sacrifice that seems to go unnoticed by his kids. This is proven towards the end of the poem where it is stated that his sacrifice is only going noticed once the father is not in the picture anymore, this is made apparent by the author stating, “What did I Know, What did I Know”. This implies that for some unknown reason the father is no longer here, and that the tasks that the father would do before leaving for his harsh labor, are now finally noticed since he is no longer there to do the tasks. This is further elaborated on with the reader being able to imply that the author is now aware of his father's sacrifice, but …show more content…
This is stated throughout the poem, such as in the beginning, “With cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fire blaze, No one ever thanked him” This tells us that while the family is asleep, the father in his preparation to get ready before leaving for work, makes sure that his family is comfortable in the cold by keeping the fire alive, even though he can't be comfortable himself as he is soon to depart to work in the harsh weather. With the author saying “ no one ever thanked him “ tells us the reader that the father does this out of his kindness to his family without hesitation showing that the father loves his kids and would do the task everyday if it meant keeping his family more comfortable and to help them get a head start in their day. This makes the reader understand that the father does this out of love, which in turn makes the reader have a sense of pity to the father, since the father does this out of his kindness towards his kids but the father does not receive the kindness
Life is full of errors, some that can be fixed while others cannot. Those errors that are not able to be handled and fixed turn out to become mistakes. Due to us being humans, mistakes will always be made throughout our lifetimes making it easy to overcome most of them. One the downfall, we will end up regretting some mistakes wishing we could go back after we’ve made that decision that lead to the mistake. When realizing these regrets, different manners of approaching them exist while it also varying from person to person.
She starts her poem by addressing her dead brother Johnny and gives a series of complaints about the condition of her kitchen. Just like what happens to many people, she recounts how they hesitate to undertake their responsibilities and blame them on other people or circumstances. She gives the ordinary excuses of a lazy person, accusing the presence of the mess in her kitchen rather than her indolence. She claims the crusty dishes have piled up while it is she or her guests piled them in the sink. She expects the plumber to repair the drainage although she didn't even call him. She would probably have a better kitchen if she called the plumber and then washed the dirty dishes. Instead of taking action, she stands, watches, and then blames everything else apart from herself. She recounts that is the ordinary thing that people do, and before she could solve her kitchen mess she drifts to another distraction and notices that it's already winter. Ideally, people will find tons of distraction but will not find time to accomplish their
Hayden’s father is not only bringing physical warmth to him by making the fire; he is also bringing spiritual warmth to him. By the end of the poem, the reader feels an overall sense of warmth as the poet comes to a better understanding of his father’s unappreciated actions.
Although finding food was a struggle for them, the man always put the boy’s health before his. The man made sure the boys thirst and hunger was always gone and that he had food to eat and drinks to drink. “He took the can and sipped it and handed it back. You drink it, he said. Let's just sit here.” (Page 27). In this quote, the man gave the boy the last of the soda but the boy got upset that the man didn’t take any, so the man took a sip and proceeded to give it to the boy. This is important because the father knows that he’s thirsty and could kill for a drink, but he knows that this is the first and last soda the boy would ever get. “He'd found a last half packet of cocoa and he fixed it for the boy and then poured his own cup with hot water and sat blowing at the rim.” (Page 18). This quote shows us too that the man always made sure that the boy got the better part of the deal. The boy got to drink cocoa but the man just drank hot water. The father does this because he got to live through his childhood without this apocalyptic world but the boy only lived a few years that he really doesn’t remember. These quotes show paternal love because they explain how the father always puts the son before him. Through all of the actions the father takes, it shows us how much he really cares about the son, and that his son is his only hope and his fire for
The first stanza describes the moment before the storm. “A chill no coat, however stout, Of homespun stuff could quite shut out,” This stanza begins to set up the obstacle that the family must overcome. When Emerson describes the storm as “less than treat” and then goes on about the intense cold it brings he also is describing God. God is caring and loving but he is also vengeful and just.
"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.
Merwin’s reflection in the poem allows the reader to find the simple examples becoming mundane and less than hearty. “Listen/with the night falling we are saying thank you” (Merwin 1-2) which portrays the relation at the beginning of the poem with more meaning then near the end, “with the animals dying around us/our lost feelings we are saying thank you” (Merwin 22-23). Merwin is giving way to the pretense of extending thanks to things. Just because we utter thanks in truth we may not be thankful for the occurrence for which we have acknowledged. By now the speaker is just saying the words without the intended feeling of gratitude being
Although this helps the child to have good morality, perhaps better than the father, he does feel a burden of guilt. The father says, “You’re not the one who has to worry about everything…[The child] looked up into his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one” (259). The boy feels responsible for what is going on in the world; he feels like it is his responsibility to take care of everything, continuing with the religious aspect of the child and almost paralleling him to Jesus. The father sees him as his religious savior, but the boy still believes in some God as he prays for thanks, “Dear people: thank you for all this food and stuff...we hope you’re safe in heaven with God” (146) The boy continues to act as a symbol of hope in a desolate world that has none, though he does not realize. The man tells him when he is dying how important the child is not only to him but to the world, “[The fire] is inside you. It was always there. I can see it” (279). Although the boy wants to die alongside his father, the man encourages him to persist, to survive, and carry the fire. This fire, the one the boy finds within himself, is the symbol of everlasting hope and human resilience. Instead of succumbing to the circumstances and resorting to
Frost’s application of diction in “Acquainted With the Night” expresses the meaning that hard times provides isolation through key words that provide the audience with proof that the speaker is communicating a detached mood. In line 1, “acquainted,” is a vital use of diction to show the meaning. The word acquainted means to know very well. When the speaker is saying he is “acquainted with the night” in line 1, he is indicating that he is familiar with the lonely night. By being “acquainted” with darkness, or the night, in his life, the speaker is illustrating how being in an isolated state of life is not new to him. The meaning of detached feelings because of hardships is revealed
Frost begins the poem by describing a young boy cutting some wood using a "buzz-saw." The setting is Vermont and the time is late afternoon. The sun is setting and the boy's sister calls he and the other workers to come for "Supper." As the boy hears its dinnertime, he gets excited and cuts his hand on accident. Immediately realizing that the doctor might amputate his hand, he asks his sister to make sure that it does not happen. By the time the doctor arrives, it is too late and the boy's hand is already lost. When the doctor gives him anaesthetic, he falls asleep and never wakes up again. The last sentence of the poem, "since they (the boys family and the doctor) were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" shows how although the boys death is tragic, people move on with their life in a way conveying the idea that people only care for themselves.
Distance is a problem in many homes whether it be through emotional distance or physical Distance or it may just be that the word love is not spoken enough, in both Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” and Rita Dove’s “Daystar” is a distant parent are they selfish or mean or is the love they do show just not understood?
In his narrative poem, Frost starts a tense conversation between the man and the wife whose first child had died recently. Not only is there dissonance between the couple,but also a major communication conflict between the husband and the wife. As the poem opens, the wife is standing at the top of a staircase looking at her child’s grave through the window. Her husband is at the bottom of the stairs (“He saw her from the bottom of the stairs” l.1), and he does not understand what she is looking at or why she has suddenly become so distressed. The wife resents her husband’s obliviousness and attempts to leave the house. The husband begs her to stay and talk to him about what she feels. Husband does not understand why the wife is angry with him for manifesting his grief in a different way. Inconsolable, the wife lashes out at him, convinced of his indifference toward their dead child. The husband accepts her anger, but the separation between them remains. The wife leaves the house as husband angrily threatens to drag her back by force.
Throughout the poem two phrases are repeated many times, emphasizing their importance, and giving them more power. As they are repeated the reader is shown the indifference of the narrator when he says, "First they came for the ..." "and I did not speak out Because I was not a..." (Niemöller, 1-6). These phrases and their interchangeable endings show how the narrator does not care who is facing troubles as long as it is not them. This indifference is detrimental because it shows a lack of empathy and cares for others in the narrator. Niemöller's repetition of these two phrases during his poem highlights the narrator's consistent disregard for people different than them. A shift in the pattern of thinking of the narrator is seen when he says, "Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." (Niemöller, 7). After repeatedly ignoring the injustices against others the narrator realizes their mistake when they find themself in the same situation as the people they had previously ignored. This change in how the narrator thinks shows how their lack of action to help others face their injustices was done so partly in ignorance. The narrator had not yet realized that everyone faces struggles at a point during their lives, and that the only way to get through them is by supporting and having the support of
Why I Lie? The thought occurred to me that expectation creeps behind everyone just as it stands behind me. The entirety of my academic career was degraded to a social label, a representation of a number, and a letter that I dread most. The ideas associated with being intelligent is not a gift but more of a burden.
Frost mentions sleep six different times during the poem “After Apple-Picking”, but he is not always speaking strictly of sleep. Winter has long been a season symbolically associated with the end of a person’s life. With the line “Essence of winter sleep is on the night” Frost uses the combination of winter and sleep t...