Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" p2264

Hayden's poem Those Winter Sundays has such a bitter loveliness to the sound and emotions it gives. The way he uses words gives off such harsh tone, strong almost cold lyrics, yet the sounds is filled with innocence along with darkness, and overall the poem has such solemnity.

The title speaks casually, saying "Those," and we think cold with "Winter," and Sundays is a day where traditionally families go to church, or have the day off from work. When we start reading the poem it's as if we know what Hayden is talking about referring to the title.

Just looking back at the past he described looking and observing his father, and his own feelings toward his father, we can say the title , "Those Winter Sundays."

The element that brings the bitterness in is the sounds of words and meaning of the words at the same time. The father "put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze."

The words "blueback," "cracked," the phrase: "ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires ablaze," is able to include the adjectives and expressions of the words to inject emotion into the reader. We know what ached means, and weather in relation to "banked fires ablaze" gives the impression of harshness.

The words work in the way Hayden put together and chose them. With these descriptions, he's able to bring his image to us. It is easy to paint a mental picture of what he is writing , so we seem to actually step into his work.

There are two characters, a narrarator and a father. The phrase, "When the rooms were warm, he'd call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house," hints of something dark about the relationship with the father and narrarator.

In the last part of the poem in the phrase, "Speaking indifferently to him, driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well," seems that the poem has goodness and darkness in together, which makes the poem again have that sweet somemnity to it.

The very last phrase he seems to question what love is. Is he questioning someone or something? He asks about the "love's austere and lonely offices." "Lonely," and "offices," is love what the narrarator is experiencing? The harsh winter, and the question of love, these are two different, opposing elements that clash with eachother.