poem:
Those Winter Sundays (1947)
By Robert Hayden
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. 5
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 indifferently to him, 10 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?
questions
1) Who is the speaker of Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays”? How old does the speaker seem at the time of the events described in the poem? How old is he at the time that he’s writing the poem? How might the age difference be significant?
2. What is the setting of Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”? What is the poem’s geographical setting? And what is its temporal setting? For example, what is the season? What is the time of day? How does the poet use imagery to establish the setting?
3. Who is the second character in Hayden’s poem? What kind of job does he have? What type of personality does he have? What is revealed by his “cracked hands that ached / from labor in the weekday weather” (3-4)?
Quick Reply
