Those Winter Sundays

Every adult has gone through a phase where they were rebellious towards, or simply didn't appreciate, their parents. While most parents have a great deal of affection for their children, some parents express themselves through their actions. For children who grew up with affectionate parents it may seem hard to visualize what it would be like to have a secluded and strained relationship with them. And unfortunately some children grow up with cold distant parents who have little to no affection for them. Some children have a complicated mix of affection and fretfulness or are filled with angst for no apparent reason. As children, many are unaware of their parent's affection or the struggles that exist from parenthood. I was lucky enough to be
However we learn that the child, who is now an adult looking back on these events, now acknowledges the hard work and compassionate deeds of the father. The poems structure, a sonnet, allows readers to learn about the dynamic relationship between the father and child. Because the poem is a sonnet it only furthers the argument that it is a love poem. Hayden used his own personal experience as inspiration as he had an estranged relationship with both his foster parents but was specifically worse with his father (Encyclopedia of World Biography). However now Hayden looks back as an adult and has the narrator in the poem parallel his own ideology. Hayden constantly visited his biological parents and was under appreciative of his foster parents. Along with this his foster family was poor and his family most likely worked hard to give him a decent life. However at the time Hayden didn't appreciate it and only as an adult realized his father's loving deeds towards him. Many children don't appreciate their parents until they are more mature or adults and this Hayden is no acceptation to this. The poem is a love poem that shows both the affection of the father and child, now an adult. The different perspective of the narrators creates a vivid image of a child who lives an unsatisfying life due to the father's emotions, which the child sees as hostile. The tone of the poem changes from being, at first sympathetic, then switching to an unappreciative tone, and finally switching to a compassionate tone. However it is at the end of the poem where the narrator acknowledges their father's behavior and finally appreciates it. The narrator even goes to imply that they were wrong by not appreciating their father in the final lines of the