oureverydayuse

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Those Winter Sundays


Those Winter Sundays
by Robert Hayden (page 779 in your textbook)








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 indifferent 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?

Comment on what this poem means to you.

31 Comments:

At 1/25/2009 4:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

701 - The line "I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking." reminds me of the house I grew up in. The house was an old farm house and I would have to get up and put wood on the fire at night. As the house warmed it would creak and groan with the expanding of the cold contracted wood frame.

I find the personification of the house and how the house is spoken of in the same tone as the father to be an interesting point in the story. It raises the idea that perhaps the father is like the house and vice versa.

 
At 1/26/2009 3:51 AM, Blogger Danielle Custer said...

I feel that it means a person who appreciates what someone is doing but doesn't out right acknowledge it. The person understands what the father is doing and appreciates it but still goes on about their life without really acknowledging it.

 
At 1/26/2009 11:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sense person's father obviously was a hard working man since she added "Sunday's "too" my father got up early". So I take it that he works everyday - with them also describing his hands being cracked and achy from hard labor. The person fears the father for whatever reason but I think acknowledges the good things he has done for him or her such as working hard to support the family, keeping the home warm, ect.

-709

 
At 1/26/2009 6:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i hope we really do get sonow this week

 
At 1/27/2009 3:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem really hits me close to home. I grew up just outside the city in a lower middle class family. My father is a blue collar worker who often worked seven day weeks at two different jobs just to provide for my family. We didn't struggle to make it through everyday life and actually had many things our friends didn't have because my father struggled through every single day; working overtime to make sure we had what we wanted.

He woke up first and he did all the house maintenance. I took the line, "and polished my good shoes as well," as how my father helped pay for my tuition at the first school I attended. Polishing shoes is an extra duty. It was not expected and I would have been more then capable of doing it myself, but he did what he felt was his fatherly duty.

The worst part about this poem is that I never really did take the time to thank him. I would say thank you in passing or tell my mom how i appreciated it, but I would never show him the appreciation and respect that he deserved.

-722

 
At 1/28/2009 1:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i love this poem, the writer express his love for his father and how much he appreciate his hard work.He also realize that many people, including himself never thank his father for being a great provider for his family.

 
At 1/28/2009 2:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem reminds me of my hard working grandfather. Even though it's Sunday he's still on the move doing things around the house without a complaint or moan.

As I read this poem I could feel the cold on my skin and how dreary and slow people move when winter comes around because it's so cold.

- 705

 
At 1/28/2009 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem is describing a father that is concerned about getting up and making sure that the house is warm before anyone else wakes up. The way the author says "sundays even too" tells me that the father is not concerned about what day of the week it is. He is doing because he wants to doi it for his child. The house reminds me of a log cabin in the middle of the mountains on a cold snowy day.

 
At 1/28/2009 7:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem is describing a father that is concerned about getting up and making sure that the house is warm before anyone else wakes up. The way the author says "sundays even too" tells me that the father is not concerned about what day of the week it is. He is doing because he wants to doi it for his child. The house reminds me of a log cabin in the middle of the mountains on a cold snowy day. 725.

 
At 1/29/2009 5:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think we fail to realize how much our parents do for us. It made me think about all the things my parents have done for me...I can't thank them enough. Yet I hardly do it at all.

We do appreciate those things, but now I think its time for us to take it one step further,and thank them. I'll start first! -714

 
At 1/31/2009 9:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It sounds like the character is reminiscing about his child hood days, how his father got up every morning to work and how his father would wake him up and they would go to church.

710

 
At 2/01/2009 7:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem is a man looking back on his chilhood and describing his father. You get the feeling that the author regrets never telling his father what he meant to him or maybe he didnt even realize how much the father cared for him.

You get the feeling that the father may have been a little stoic but obviously loved his family by the fact that he worked till his hands were aching and cracked, and that he gets up extra early even on his day off, to make sure the house was warm for his family when they got out of bed.

After i read it i actually felt bad for the dad and kinda feel like the author was a little brat.
~724

 
At 2/01/2009 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

703-I think the boy is too young to appreciate what is going on around him....hes probably very cranky still from just waking up....hes probably cold and miserable...he doesnt take in that his father is waking him up for the day that is about to take place....

 
At 2/02/2009 4:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When reading this poem it makes me feel like a person that is looking back on their life and remembering or even appreciating it. This poem says to me appreciate the people in your life for the hard work and even the not so hard work they do.
-723

 
At 2/05/2009 12:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel this poem symbolizes the forgotten appreciation one forgets to give. Yet, they acknowledge it with in themselves...

-711

 
At 2/07/2009 8:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

First of all this poem reminds me of a book I read in school once called "My Antonia" - anyone? anyone?? Well about this poem, all I can say is how sad. In fact it makes me feel guilty for all the times that I have taken my parents love for me for granted. Like the child in the story I remember hearing my father wake up early, before the rest and wake up the house. Its funny, I think that houses have personalities, they need love, they are like another child. So before the rest dad would wake the house, warm it up causing it to speak back. I always thought that it was saying "Please?? 10 more minutes." My father did a lot for us, even on Sundays. As a child I never thanked him enough, but isn't that human nature? We exploit what we see every day, when we know it isn't going anywhere.
#708

 
At 2/09/2009 1:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sympathize with this father because my own father resembles this man who wants everything to be up and running before the family wakes. Working multiple jobs and working hard during the week to only continue at home on the weekends. I can tell that the reader appreciates his fathers hard work yet doesn't know how to act or acknowledged. 721

 
At 2/09/2009 1:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sympathize with this father because my own father resembles this man who wants everything to be up and running before the family wakes. Working multiple jobs and working hard during the week to only continue at home on the weekends. I can tell that the reader appreciates his fathers hard work yet doesn't know how to act or acknowledged. 721

 
At 2/09/2009 4:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

#702 - This poem "Those Winter Sunday" remind me of my hard working grandfather. the black blue cold. Acknowledging him in a good way. if it was not for him waking up and goin too work. i really do not think it would be here.



I love the Snow.

 
At 5/04/2009 12:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem, to me, describes a boy/girl questioning his/her father's actions and his lack of desire to be thanked for them. In terms, he/she questions her own ability to thank him. 815

 
At 6/15/2009 3:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this poem is about Robert Hayden failing to realize the love that was shared by his father. He would work all week and still rise early on Sunday to make a fire in the cold winter morning. Nobody ever thanked him because it was taken for granted. It is not until now that he can look back and understand how his fathers love was inside all these acts. Warming the house, polishing the shoes etc.
-813

 
At 8/29/2009 8:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really like this poem because it provokes powerful images, powerful ideas, and powerful emotions. That is, the reader can see the "cracked hands" the speaker talks about, and hear the crackling fire...
And it so plainly expresses the feelings of both the unappreciated yet loving parent and his child, who is naive to the toils of his father, who toils for love of the son. It is simple yet deeply felt.

-121

 
At 9/09/2009 3:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this poem reminded me of the hard work people can project to someone, but not getting the compliments back they deserve. in this case, parents should work hard to give their kids what they need, without needing a thankful because it is their job. but i do feel that by teaches kids are given they should no to give a response of thank you. this poem also shows thats kids acknowledge the hard work of their parents through any kind of circumstances, but don't always no how to show the understanding and affection they have. -113

 
At 9/13/2009 10:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It seems to me as if the father and son are having problems communicating with one another, which may have led to a strain in the relationship in some way. The way he describes things, like being called out of bed by his father, makes me think that there is no mother in the home, which may be a cause of some of the anger, and the indifferent tone in which the son speaks to the father.

110

 
At 9/14/2009 12:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i think that this poem is confusing.. at first i can relate to it, the waking up in the cold winter morning getting ready for work or even just hearing my dada getting ready. but then the second verse just drifts off.. i dont really understand where the author is goin with the second verse.. that my opinon..105

 
At 10/25/2009 8:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am not sure I grasp the concept of this poem. I interpret it as:
the authors father works very hard & takes good care of his family, and though the author understands & appreciates his fathers effort, he never verbally expresses his feeling to him. If I am correct, then it reminds me of my relationship with my own dad and i can appreciate its message. I dont like that the poem isnt straight forward.. or maybe it is and I'm just not fully grasping its message for some reason.

014

 
At 12/14/2009 2:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel that the person knows that someone is doing something for him/her, and even though he/she are grateful of having a warm home, they don't really know how to express it. Even though the father works hard, he never gets a thank you.
-020

 
At 1/12/2010 8:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i thinkg that this poem is a good one 007

 
At 2/08/2010 10:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This poem is heartbreaking. Parents never get the appreciation they deserve at first. My parents offered me way more than I needed and I took it for granted sometimes. It is the unconditional love that drives the hard work and dedication family will do for each other. This poem is a reveals a part of growing older and reaching maturity.

 
At 2/08/2010 10:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

^100

 
At 3/23/2010 3:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

114 -pct- This tells a story that can one can relate to. How many children grew up in a home where their parents worked a grueling job to provide for their children. Many times the parents might take out their frustration on their children and damage their relationship. The child grows up to an adult and faces the same problems, and in retrospect understands their parents actions.

 

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