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The meaning of “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden is to show the familiar, familial love that is relatable by most people. From the beginning of the story and all throughout the boys shows his father-son love that he does not understand and fully appreciate until he is reminiscing about his father and how he always got up early, even on Sundays. The boy is not just an unappreciative child, he is simply a growing boy; he has a lot to learn. His growing through the poem shows the father-son relationship he only fully understands when he is older.…
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In the sonnet “Those Winter Sundays”, the theme is the warmth of the coal fire becomes the warmth of the love that radiates throughout the house. An adult speaker presents memories of how his father expressed love for him through his actions. In particular, the speaker remembers that his father rose very early on Sunday mornings to stoke the furnace fire. Only when the house was warm did he awaken his son to dress. Line 12 notes that the father also polished his son's "good shoes," indicating that he will be taking or sending his son to church. Thus, the father takes seriously the moral upbringing of his boy. The phrase "chronic angers" in line 9 is open to interpretation. It could mean that sternly scolds his son from time to time or that arguments are commonplace in the household. It seems clear, though, that he is a good father. He accomplishes his Sunday tasks with aching, skin-cracked hands subjected during the week to the fierce cold he endures on the job. The adult speaker regrets now that he never took the time to thank his father for his concern and love.…
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“Daystar” by Rita Dove is an expressive poem, which centers on the main character, a young mother and wife, who internally struggles with her burdensome, daily duties, which creates a lack of freedom in her world. Dove’s choice of words lets the reader empathize with her confined life. In this poem, irony exists for the mere fact that from birth to adulthood the female population is brought up to feel fulfilled by simply becoming a wife and mother; however, this poem describes the monotonous duties and the joyless bond that can be between husband and wife.…
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On page 80, it says, “There is all that life that has happened outside of me, beyond me. And when is there time to remember, to sift, to weigh, to estimate, to total?” These sentences show that her regrets that were from the past reflect upon the present. She doesn’t know what to do, and she regrets that. In “Daystar”, the mother inner conflict is that she wants time to herself from her children. On page 89, it says, “She wanted a little room for thinking: but she saw diapers steaming on the line, a doll slumped behind the door.” This shows she wants time, but she has kids to take care of because they are her responsibilities. Both of the mothers have cared for their children, but also the children feel something about their parents, and they also learn something from…
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The poems "Those Winter Sundays" and "How to Change a Frog Into a Prince" show parents trying to learn the process of raising a youth, with one being a reflection from the child and the other during childhood,…
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Upon first reading the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, I was an objective reader who assumed Hayden was looking back with nostalgia at his lost childhood. Without researching the poem, as well as Hayden himself, I had no way of knowing his background as an adopted child to unhappy parents in a dysfunctional household. After reading several sources, I’ve formed a somewhat new outlook on the poem and what it means not only to we the readers, but also to Hayden the poet.…
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One of the most powerful relationships someone ever forms is the connection that they have with their own father. “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke are both poems that brilliantly describe this powerful relationship between father and son. The feelings that the poets have toward the subject are found deep within the two poems often hidden behind how the character feels toward his own father. Even though these poems were published in different time periods, one feels the similarities and differences within the tone, form, or even the imagery of the poems.…
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Rita Dove's poem Daystar really gives the reader a lot to think about. At first, we learn about a woman who seems to be under a lot of stress, some sleeping children and a man that takes what he desires from the woman. Through the use of specific words and phrases the reader is intended to make initial assumptions about the characters. However, after reading the poem a few more times, evaluating and scrutinizing the words and phrases, we begin to realize the possible alternative messages. The words Rita has chosen in her poem make a profound impact on the reader. If the word and phrases are dismissed in their face value, the reader may not see the true meaning; However if scrutinized…
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Even though he must be tired from working all week long, he still wakes up early on the weekend so he can warm the house up by lighting the furnace early in the morning before everyone else wakes up. Although the father work hard for the family, that is not the only sacrifices he made for them. It is shown where the speaker said “… polished my good shoes as well” (Hayden 496). Every loving father always knew what to do in order to make their kids happy, even if it’s just a simple stuff like polishing the kid’s shoes. A father who would polish their kids shoes is a very caring and sacrificial father, because of the fact that he has a spare time to do that despite the fact of him being busy for work and he can be an example to be followed by the kids too, where the kid will grow up to be just like him. Those Winter Sundays convey a picture of a journey the speaker’s has to gone through, although he wrote this piece when he was already a grown up man, he has to go through life obstacles to figure out about his father’s sacrifice when he is old, “The last two lines of Hayden’s poem provide some relief of weight of the proceeding lines in one way and, in another way, seal in the great hurt of the recollection. It is a relief for the reader to know that the child of the poem has escaped the despondency of ‘Those Winter Sundays.’ And, with the distance, there is at least some recognition of those past as…
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In the poem, “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden, he tells a familiar story about the relationship between a parent and a child. The story is that more times than not, the child is oblivious to the sacrifices. He talks about the father still getting up on Sundays after a long work week, and how he would build a fire to warm up the house before his kids would get out of bed. He would also polish his child's shoes. He would do all this and no one would ever thank him.…
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The anger that the father feels due to his unfortunate circumstances is prevalent throughout the poem and it leads to a strain on the relationship with the speaker as a child. The troubled economy resulted in the father losing his job; the speaker tells us that it was after this occurred that he…
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In Robert Hayden’s "Those Winter Sundays," the speaker is looking back on his past and his insensitivity toward his father when he was a child. As an adult, the speaker has become aware of what regretfully had escaped him as a boy. Through Robert Hayden’s diction the readers are able to feel the poem’s emotional appeal of regret. For example, towards the end of the poem the speaker states that as a child he “[spoke] indifferently to [his father]” the simple relating of the word “indifferently” which denotation is not caring reflects the negative attitudes from the son to the father (5). The connotation of the word elicits an association that powerfully captures the sons in gratitude towards his father’s selflessness. His use of the past…
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Robert Hayden's Poem, "Those Winter Sundays," is the perfect example of a life lesson. As a child growing up there are things we do not realize but eventually life reveals the significance of curtain things and in this poem Hayden’s has this experience. This poem shows how we take things and people closest to us for granted. He does this in three ways, blatantly, with the language he uses, and also with the mood and tone he sets.…
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"Those Winter Sunday",by Robert Hayden, is a good poem I have read. Why do I say so? Because this poem talks about the father, who is mentioned by Hayden in this poem, is a great father. The father does everything for his son. Besides, he never cared about what he does, although his job is very dangerous. That is why Hayden writes this poem for his father. With Hayden's admiration and love for his father, he uses many descriptive words to mention his father. There are three significant things that the author says about his father: how the works, how parents love their children, and how the son feel when the father sacrifices for his…
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An Old Man's Winter Night is written by the American poet Robert Frost in 1916. He went through a lot of tragedies during the whole life. After experiencing the death his mother, his grandfather and his 2 children, the sense of helpness inevitably worked to shape and color the views of life’s possibilities. It’s unforeseeable for Frost to predict what will happen tomorrow so that he was called “a poet who terrifies”. That’s why the peotry is a mix of the calm and rural. The peaceful surface with an underlying darkness is an uncommon feature in this poetry.…
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