Jasmine Franklin
English 106 WS
Professor Peterson
April 25, 2011
Those Winter Sundays
The sacrifices of a father
The poem, Those Winter Sundays written in 1966 by Robert Hayden demonstrates the
sacrifices of Hayden’s father when he was a child. Hayden grew up in Detroit Michigan during
one of the hardest times America has ever seen. He went through boyhood while the United
States why is hard economic times due to the great depression. One would have to work all week
just to satisfy the needs of the household during this time, and it was even harder during the
winter. In this poem, Hayden emphasizes how his father sacrificed his Sunday mornings so that
his family would not have to go through the dreadful cold when they awake. If one looks at the
time period the author is writing about one would see that it was not easy getting a household in
Detroit warm during the winter. Most of the time individual’s furnaces would blow out or not
work because it was too cold or because they did not have enough coal to warm up their place of
residence. The significance of the time period it was written dictates how cold and harsh
conditions were to the individuals who lived in Detroit during the winter season. However in this
poem Hayden’s father worked hard so that his family would not have to endure those harsh
conditions that winter brought. In the poem Those Winter Sundays, Hayden utilizes illusions,
sensory imagery and flashbacks to demonstrate how much his father sacrificed for his family
though he was not appreciated.
At the break of dawn is when the sun finally touches the earth to warm it up. However,
Hayden’s father wakes up before the break of dawn when it is “blueblack” (Hayden 2). The
illusion of being “blueblack” outside displays how dark it was, because it was so dark that the
black sky seemed as though it was blue. Like mentioned before if it is still dark outside then how
would the earth be able to warm up so that individuals like Hayden’s father can do what he has
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to do? It did not, the father had to face the chill of the cold from the dark. He was the only one
who would awake in the coldest and darkest hour so that he could warm up his household.
Hayden’s father did this because he did not want the family to have to endure the chilliness from
the cold as he did while it was “blueblack” outside.
Since Detroit is in the Northern part of the United States, its winters tend to become
unbearably cold. In the poem, the reader acknowledges the fact that the cold from the winter
season is damaging. For example, being that it is winter, the winds from outside make the cold
even more devastating to the human skin. Hayden emphasizes that his father had “cracked
hands” (Hayden 3), due to the cold from outside. The word “cracked” illustrates how hard his
father works, because if one’s hands are literally cracked from outside labor then his father was
out working long hours so that he would be able to support his family. The author also employs
that phrase because he is demonstrating how hard his father ha work just to keep his family
warm and out of the dangers of the cold.
Not only does the cold from the outside affect the internal household, it affected the
exterior of the house as well. As one notes in the poem, the Author illustrates that the harsh
conditions from the icy state began to start “splintering [and] breaking” (Hayden 6), different
objects. Since the cold would do that to the outside of the house, why would the father go
outside to risk his own body getting damaged by the chill of the cold? It was because he wanted
his family not to suffer from the cold when they had to awake from their sleep. Hayden
emphases this point because he wanted to express how much his father sacrificed for him and the
rest of the family just so they can be warm. The sensory imagery of how the chill was damaging
gives the reader a better understanding of how the conditions were and what it was like for the
father to endure the cold each Sunday morning.
In the time period that Hayden was referring to, most individuals took Sunday off to rest
from the work of the week. As most individuals know, Sunday is supposed to be demonstrated
and used for a day of rest and relaxation. However, in the poem, Hayden emphasizes how his
father woke up on “Sundays too” (Hayden 1). Realizing the significance of why the author
utilized “too” after the word Sunday magnifies its importance, enabling the reader to understand
the role of the day of Sunday. If one thinks about it, Sunday is not a day to wake up early and do
work. It is a day of rest and that is why Hayden emphasizes the word “too” because he is
demonstrating how his father woke up on Sunday to carry on the household needs though it is a
day of rest.
The author gives the reader a flashback of how his father made it his duty to make the
household warm for his family. He also demonstrates memories of how he remembers
disrespecting him even though his father was enabling Hayden to be warm in the morning. For
example, when his father would call him to come into the room because the house was warm,
Hayden would “[Speak] indifferently to him, [though] he [drove] out the cold” (Hayden 10-11).
Why does the author recall moments of how he did not respect his father? It was because he
knew that his father was not appreciated by him though he was the one who enable Hayden to
become warm.
It was out of the love for his family that enabled the father to wake up early on a cold
early Sunday morning, to heat up the house. Even though Hayden’s father woke up every
Sunday morning “No one ever thanked him” (Hayden 5), for doing so that because he did not
have to. The author recalls on times from his childhood to display how his father was never
thanked by any of his family members. Not being thanked by the members of the family
illustrates how they did not appreciate him waking up in the morning just so they would not have
to be cold. The family did not care about how the cold effected their helpful family member, they
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just expected him to do so because it was his job.
Throughout the poem Those Winter Sundays, the Author Robert Hayden illustrates how
hard his father worked in order to keep his household in a state of warmness during the winter
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cold. To demonstrate how his father worked to keep the conditions right, Hayden used outside
illusions and vivid descriptions to illustrate the conditions the father had to be in to keep his
family warm. Hayden also mentions the different sacrifices his father made so that his family
would not have to endure the winter cold. The author emphasizes how he did not appreciate his
father when he was growing up by the utilization of different flashbacks of his childhood.
Overall the author emphasizes the many situations his father went through to ensure that his
family was warm during the winter Sundays.
Workscited
Hayden, Roberts. “Those Winter Sundays.” Collected Poems of Robert Hayden. New York:
Liverlight, 1966. Print.