Those Winter Sundays – Robert Hayden
There are a number of techniques the poet uses to convey his feelings for his father in this poem.
The title of the poem establishes the tone and subject of the poem. The poet is recollecting Sundays when he was young and has a negative tone. This first line, ‘Sundays too my father got up early’ suggests that the father gets up early every other day of the week and Sundays are no exception. This is followed up when the poet adds that his hands are ‘cracked’ and ‘ached from labour in the weekday weather’. These images make us sympathize with the father; we see that he is suffering to make his family happy and comfortable. His suffering is further emphasized by the word ‘blue black’ (made-up word or neologism) used to describe the cold. Also, the consonance, ‘cracked, ached, cold, chronic’, which has a hard “c” sound which once again, emphasizes his pain and discomfort. At the end of the stanza there is a shocking statement, ‘no one ever thanked him’, emphasized by the shortness of the sentence. This is unexpected and brings a sense of regret from the poet. It also further portrays the isolation and suffering of the father in his attempts to make his family happy.
