Introduction to Poetry--"Those Winter
Sundays"
CONFERENCE #1 (MANDATORY)
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Robert Hayden (1913-1980) (p. 212)
• Born August 4, 1913, as Asa Bundy Sheffey
in Detroit, Michigan, and taken into a
foster family
• Raised in a slum called Paradise Valley
(Detroit’s ghetto)
• Attended Detroit City College
• Married Erma Morris in 1940
• Known for poems that express the
African-American experience
• In 1976, appointed consultant to the
Library of Congress, becoming the first
African-American poet to receive this
honor
• In 1980, died of heart failure
The Speaker
• The son/daughter of the father
• Probably is his son
(“and polished my good shoes as well”)
• He is an adult now, looking back onto what
his father had done for him in the past
• He realizes now how he wasted his
childhood not recognizing the little things
that his father did
Those Winter
Sundays
Robert
Hayden
“Those Winter Sundays” (p. 213)
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?
The Attitude of the Speaker
Toward his Father
A Subtle Love – building fires in the
early morning that “drove out the cold”
Fear– (“fearing the chronic angers of that house”) –
implies that his family fought a lot
Regret – the boy didn’t understand the
significance his father had until later in
his life
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Introduction to Poetry--"Those Winter
Sundays"
The Poem’s Organization
• 3 stanzas
– 2 stanzas with 5 lines
– 1 quatrain (4 lines)
• Loose blank verse
(unrhymed iambic
pentameter)
• Lengths of the
sentences vary
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?
The Poem’s Organization
• The second stanza,
lines 6-9
– Once warmth is
achieved, the father
calls his son to rise
and get dressed
– Mentions “chronic
angers” in the
household
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?
Imagery
• Cracked hands
– Implies the rough labor that the father went
through
• Sunday
– Typically is a day of rest… Shows that the
father got up early to do things for the family
regardless of the day
• Fire
– Shows a contrast with “blueblack cold”
– Shows a sense of liveliness and anger as well
The Poem’s Organization
• The first stanza, lines 1-5
– Establishes the subject, the speaker’s father
– Focuses upon the father’s suffering
– The father sacrifices himself to get up early,
work, and warm the home for his family
– Ends with a very powerful line, “No one ever
thanked him.”
• The speaker never acknowledged his father’s actions
The Poem’s Organization
• The third stanza, lines 10-14
– Begins with the image of distance as a
continuation of the last line of the second stanza
(“speaking indifferently to him”)
– But also mentions that he was ungrateful for the
things his father did
– Speaker admits his ignorance over the simple
love for his father (“…what did I know of
love’s austere and lonely offices”)
Diction and Syntax
• Mostly straightforward language, but some vivid
(“blueblack cold,” “chronic angers”) and
connotative (“offices”)
• Progression between the contrast of dark/cold and
light/warm throughout the poem
1st Stanza (father getting up):
“blueblack cold” in contrast to “banked fires blaze”
2nd Stanza (son waking up):
“cold, splintering, breaking” in contrast to “the rooms
were warm”
- Could indicate a similar relationship between
the father and son
2
Introduction to Poetry--"Those Winter
Sundays"
Diction and Syntax
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,
Diction and Syntax
3rd Stanza:
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?
• The word choice in the first 2 stanzas emphasizes the hard
“c” sound, which could symbolize the pain of the father and
of the household.
• Uses alliteration as well to make the poem “sound” smooth.
• The diction in the last stanza is a lot
more calm and relaxed compared to
the first two stanzas, as conveyed
in the meaning of the final stanza
(a sense of love/remembrance)
Conclusions
Bibliography
• “Those Winter Sundays” is about an adult who is
looking back at his past relationship with his father.
He now recognizes the extremity to which his
father did things for him even within the angry
household. The speaker regrets not recognizing the
habitual actions that his father did for him while he
was young.
• The title is significant in that it describes the typical
winter Sundays that the speaker’s father would do
things for him and how, in his youth, he never
appreciated any of it.
Hayden, Robert. “Those Winter Sundays.” The Compact Bedford
Anthology of Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 571. Print.
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia. “Culture, Race, and Ethnicity."
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and
Writing. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2007. 640. Print.
“Robert Hayden.” Poets.Org. Academy of American Poets.
16 Apr. 2008. Web.
Let’s try analyzing some other poems:
1. Margaret Atwood’s “You fit into me” (p. 228; consider tone,
diction, repetition, imagery, and irony)
2. William Hathaway’s “Oh, Oh” (handout; consider tone, diction,
imagery, and irony)
3. Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” (p. 219;
consider metaphor, diction, connotation, and ironic tone)
4. Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” (p. 236; consider diction,
irony, rhyme, and tone)
5. Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory” (p. 216; consider
irony, rhyme, rhythm, meter)
6. Katharyn Howd Machan’s “Hazel Tells LaVerne” (handout;
consider diction, irony, and allusion)
7. William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just to Say” (p. 223; consider
image, diction, rhythm)
8. e.e. cummings’ “she being Brand” (handout; consider metaphor,
imagery, diction, syntax, rhythm, and the odd capitalization, line
breaks, and spacing)
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