“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden
Robert Hayden was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He lived a tough childhood with his parents and dealt with impaired vision. Hayden studied at both Wayne State University and at the University of Michigan. He was honored with the Academy of American Poet Fellowship and was later named as the first African American Poet Laureate in 1976.
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
In “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, the readers are presented with a vivid description of a father’s morning routine as explained by his son. The majority of the poem is written with long sentences and with only one telegraphic sentence. This shows that talking about his father’s routine is something common for the narrator and he can rant on about it. When listening to this poem, the reader feels a sense of sorrow for both the father, because of the work he has done, but also for the son, because of the pain he suffers when thinking about his father.
The first and second stanzas explain the actions the narrator’s father does before heading out to begin his Sundays work. The use of the telegraphic sentence, “No one ever thanked him”, establishes the tone of regret present in the remainder of the poem. Very often others help us in some way and yet we never end up showing our appreciation. In this case it seems that the narrator himself never thanked his father either and he regrets his lack of gratitude. The first two stanzas also establish a bitter tone. The line “...fearing the chronic angers of that house…” and “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking” highlight both types of bitter: the narrators regret and the description of the cold weather.
The last stanza contains a tone shift from regretful to nostalgic. Contrast to the first and second stanza, in this stanza the narrator speaks with appreciation towards the simple actions his father did for him such as polishing his shoes. By his tone, the reader can infer that the father has either passed away or is very sick. The repetition of “What did I know” sounds like the narrator is bracing himself not to cry. This repetition also brings back the tone of regret because the narrator is blaming himself for not behaving differently when his father was around.