Braime 1
Abby Braime
Professor Baker
ENGL M01B
28 January 2019
Poetry I Assignment
Fathers sacrifice a great deal for their children even if they get nothing in return. A father
is so selfless that he would always make sure that his child is warm during the winter and has
nice polished shoes. In the poem
Those Winter Sundays
by Robert Hayden, the father is
displaying the same behavior. He works all week so he can afford to keep his house warm, and
his child’s belongings in place, expecting nothing in return. This poem introduces the life of a
father and child and when that child became an adult, he or she reflects on their childhood and
how they failed to notice their father’s obscure love.
The title of the poem contains the word “those” and how the speaker is talking in a past
tense. At the beginning of the poem the speaker introduces the father. It is apparent that the
speaker does not call the father “Dad, Papa, or Daddy,” giving off a first impression that they do
not, or never had, a good relationship. The speaker then explains getting up in the morning, and
how slow and hesitant he or she would take to get ready. As the poem comes to an end, there is a
better understanding as to who the speaker is. In the last stanza the speaker expresses how his or
her father “had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes,” reflecting in the past tense. The
speaker realizes, “What did I know, what did I know,” leading the audience to interpret that the
