Those Winter Sundays Analysis Essay

The narrator states that his father woke up and got dressed “in the blueblack cold” in order to go to work where he developed “cracked hands that ached.” Hayden uses the words “cold,” “cracked,” and “ached” to describe the father’s working conditions; the hard Cs in these words make them sound harsh, and therefore imply that the father’s job is difficult. This enhances readers’ impressions that the father continues to work at his challenging and demanding job in order to provide for his family. Both Hayden and Roethke chose to describe the fathers’ hands to represent the children’s living situations. The father in “Those Winter Sundays” had “cracked hands that ached,” while the father in “My Papa’s Waltz” had “battered” hands. Many individuals believe that hands tell a lot about a person, such as their job or even their class. For instance, rough hands might indicate that the person works in construction and soft hand might indicate a person of high-class who is able to take care of his or her skin. The most common reason for cracked and aching hands is cold weather, which implies that the father in “Those Winter Sundays” is a blue-collar worker who performs his job outside. This contrasts with the battered hands seen in “My Papa’s Waltz,” which indicates some form of violence. The harsh words in both “My Papa’s

Billy Collins’ poem “Snow Day” encompasses irony throughout the poem. The poem is about a snow day and Collins’ starts the poem by describing the beautiful blankness of snow. He uses phrases like “landscape vanished”, “libraries buried” and “the path of trains softly blocked” to depict a blank, quiet world; one which has fallen under the spell of snow. He goes on to write about how he stays inside and listens to the radio while it announces all the different schools that are closed. Towards the end of the poem, he starts to talk about the children who play while school is out. Here the poem takes an unanticipated turn, and he speaks of what the children are talking about. This irony makes the poem less about the snow day itself and more about

Both of the poems are about the unconditional love to their father, but each defines it differently. It shows that no matter what happened love never ends. Love is not just about hugs and snuggles. In “My Papa’s Waltz” the father, who is whisking the boy away to bed, shows that no matter how tough the waltz was, the boy didn’t want to leave his dad. In “Those Winter Sundays” the love is being defined differently. Love in that poem is being expressed through duty, responsibility, and obligation. The father is fulfilling his duties and responsibilities to take care of his family. I guess this is his way of expressing love to his family and his son.

Continuing with the second stanza the child describes more about going through this crazy life. “ We romped until the pans/ Slid from the shelf;/ My mother’s countenance/ Could not unfrown itself”. The first two lines of the stanza say that the child and their father keep trying in life through the good and bad times. The last two lines describe the, “mother’s

Dorothy Livesay’s “Winter” and “A November Landscape” by E. J. Pratt are both short poems with similar tones and nuances. The two seem to be metaphors personifying the winter season with comparable themes. While both poems have a theme of captivity, “A November Landscape’ ends with a note of freedom and ‘Winter’ finishes with one of hopelessness.

(Hook) (Bridge). In Robert Hayden’s poem, Those Winter Sundays, and Theodore Roethke's poem, My Papa’s Waltz the theme of family is treated similarly.

The use of positive connotation in the text is utilised to illuminate the positives of the relationship, as they “romp” and “waltz” their way through a fun life. However, Roethke intentionally included those words with negative connotation to show the constant complexity and imperfect nature of their relationship. In lines 3-4, Roethke states “[b]ut I held on like death:/[s]uch waltzing was not easy,” which is the first metaphor for their relationship. In this quote from the text, as Roethke preaches the difficulty of the waltz, he is really writing about the relationship between his father and son as being “not easy.” And although their relationship is not easy as it goes through life, the boy still “hung on like death,” showing his love for his father and another positive for the relationship. Another example of this, in the last stanza, lines 15-16, is made as Roethke notes “[t]hen waltzed me off to bed/[s]till clinging to your shirt.” The last lines of the poem show the true relationship at the end of all the confusion lost in the midst of the middle of the poem. The father loves his son and waltzes him to bed and the boy, loving his father, slings to his shirt to stay with him. The poem expresses the confusion and complexity created in a relationship such as this one between father and son, but at the end, the confusion is unnecessary and what prevails is not the negatives, but instead the positive aspect of

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are similar because they focus on the same subject. However, they differ in how the speakers’ feel about their relationship with their parent(s). In Plath’s “Daddy”, the speaker is a daughter thinking about how her father treated her. She tells about how she felt trapped by him and how she tried to ‘kill’ him, line 6 of the poem, but he dies before she has a chance. The ending of Plath’s poem implies that she got married to a man like her father. In Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, the speaker seems to be an adult reminiscing his childhood through a metaphor of a dance. The poem suggests that the boy was abused and the mother stood by without doing much about it. Three topics that

In the poem “Those Winter Sundays” the poem seems to take place around the year 1943. Judging from the illustration above the poem, it looks like the family is very poor and have very little space. The picture shows that the mother is serving food to the boy and girl, from that point of view it looks like they have to share which shows that they struggle to provide enough food for each individual. As opposed to the poem “Piano” there is no illustration but the speaker does say “hymns in the cozy parlor”. The speaker using the word parlor shows that the family must have lived in a well kept home. Also the speaker makes his childhood seem rosy so his family was most likely not struggling to make

The father/son relationship are shown in both poems. Both are adults reflecting on their past. “My Papa’s Waltz” is about how the father would dance daily with the son. Although it was painful when he sometimes missed a step and his “right ear scraped a buckle”, this was a memorable memory for the son (Line 8). The poem has a happy tone of the sons childhood days. “Those Winter Sundays” has a sad dark tone. “Speaking indifferently to him” (Line 10). It is clear that there is little communication between the father and the son. The author remembers how his father woke up early to heat the house and worked hard to provide for the family. Although this poem is much sadder, it still shows love. Both sons understand their fathers efforts but they are shown in

Maintaining a healthy relationship can present some reservations because of the way characters interact with each other and also as a result of bad nurturing. For example, in “Those Winder Sundays and “The Possessive” both authors face discomfort as a result of each protagonist in the poem relying on someone else to make them happy. A level of maturity is the key to understanding one’s self- identity and one’s own independence. In Robert Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” he explains how his father’s motive for loving him and raising becomes a challenge for the son to accept, because of his adolescent behavior and likewise in Sharon Old’s poem “The Possessive” the narrator would describe how uncomfortable she felt when she her daughter grow up too fast. Both poems use a narrative that suggest that there are

According to traditional gender roles, the father is the provider for the family. He is

Billions of people live in this world, each one taking part in countless relationships. These relationships form through the various interactions of everyday life. There are the relationships between friends, teachers and their students, and even the relationships between pets and their owners, all of which develop unique and amiable friendships over time. These relationships, however, often end and cannot withstand life’s hard ways, leaving only the strongest and deepest bond to survive the storms—the bond within the family. Simon J. Ortiz and Robert Hayden both depict this family bond differently in their poems. In “My Father’s Song,” Ortiz describes the caring and tender relationship between a father and his son. Hayden, however speaks in

This particular poem is about parents that have no idea what's going on in their kid's daily life and what they go through. With this type of action, the parents act as if all is good and make little to no effort to get involved in their day to day activities. This shows the kid that the parent does not care or seems like it. The kid will be influenced to do things they normally wouldn't do. If the parent would at least make an attempt to get involved, it may influence them for the better but until then it will not happen. Back into the books, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee shows how much a single parent can influence several kids. Atticus Finch is a single father of two. The kids are Jean Louise, aka Scout, and Jem. Attics is a lawyer that takes on a case about an African American charged with rape trying to defend him. He teaches his kids that everyone is equal no matter what color or what they have done. His kids pick up on this shortly after learning what their dad is doing and help stick up for the colored people. “We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe- some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they're born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others- some people are born gifted

“My Papa’s Waltz” is written from the perspective of someone looking back on a vivid memory from their childhood. The poem demonstrates a problematic father son relationship. The playful tones of “romped until the pans slid” and “waltzed me off to bed” show that the child had love for his father. However, the concerning tones of “the whiskey on your breath”, “scraped a buckle”, and “you beat time on my head” reveal the abusive behavior of an alcoholic father toward his son. While reading this poem, the sensory and kinesthetic imagery immersed me in the experience. I could imagine the dizzying smell of the whiskey, the hard grip on the wrist, and the stumbling missteps. I find it ironic that the author titled this poem, “My Papa’s Waltz”, because