“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden Cited from Angle of Ascent: New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 1962 by Robert Hayden.

The Poem 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 indifferently 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?  

Presentation Outline Initial Questions Speaker, situation, and tone Theme Paraphrase & Syntax Analysis Structural Analysis Diction Figures of Speech Conclusive Remarks

Father-child Relationship For you as a reader, what’s the most impressive scene in the poem? Have you had a similar experience? Did you notice your parents’ austere and lonely offices? How do you respond to the repeated line “What did I know” at the end of the poem? What’s the speaker’s attitude to the father in the poem at the end?

Speaker, Situation, Listener The speaker is a grown-up that recalls his/her indifference to the father’s lonely tasks taking care of the family on cold winter Sundays. The words “Sundays too” tells us the speaking situation that the speaker notices the father works as usual on Sundays mornings, when people are at rest. The speaker’s tone is regretful as he repeats “what did I know” twice at the end of the poem, and the details show that he’s learned to appreciate the father’s work. The listener can be any reader

Theme of the Poem “What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?” From the detailed descriptions of the father’s lonely tasks on Sunday mornings and the last two lines, we know the poem is about the father’s “Love’s austere and lonely offices”

Paraphrase of the Poem —by Stanzas 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. My father got up early on Sundays as usually. And he put on his clothes in the cold weather, when it was still dark, when the sky was still blue-black. And then, he made piles of fires to burn and warm the house with his cracked hands, which suffered from the pain of his daily labor during the week days, hands that suffered from the weather of his labor days. No one had ever thanked my father for his labor. banked fires (Line 5): fires that have been smothered with ashes so that the coals will remain hot and can be used later to start another fire   (Cultural Note, Courseware)

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking 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, At that time, I would wake up and hear the sound of coldness become fragmented, as the fires burn, coldness breaks. When the rooms became warm, my father would call, and I would rise and get dress slowly because I was afraid of the coldness of the house, which was like the long lasting problems (angers) of that house due to its old age and due to the lack of repair.

speaking indifferently 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?   As I got up, I spoke to him indifferently, showing no care at all to this person that had kept coldness out of our house, the person that had also polished my good shoes. What did I know, what did I know at that time, about the (physical) hardship and lonely tasks of my father’s love?

Structural Analysis The poem is divided into three stanzas. The first stanza describes the father’s hard work on Sunday mornings in the dark, his weekday labor, and how no one appreciated him. The second stanza shows the speaker’s fear of the cold and how the father drove out the cold. The 3rd stanza shows his regret for showing no care for the father’s hard work.

Diction—Word Choice Love’s austere and lonely offices Love’s austere tasks: cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze Lonely Offices— got up on Sundays, made fire, polished shoes, no one ever thanked him, (the speaker didn’t get up and help and he spoke indifferently to the father) Coldness v.s. warmth: blue-dark cold, chronic angers of the house v.s.banked fires blaze, warm, cold splintering, breaking, driven out cold

Figures of Speech--Imagery About the father’s austere and lonely offices: Visual & touch images of the father’s actions and the feelings of coldness: Got up in the blueblack cold, on Sunday mornings. Made banked fires blaze with his cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather. (the warmth of the fire as contrasted to the father’s cracked hands that ached from daily labor. About the speaker’s indifference I'd wake and hear the cold splintering slowly I would rise and dress speaking indifferently to him

Figures of Speech —Personification & Metaphor I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking (it seems the fire can be broken and driven away) driven out the cold (coldness is personified and seems to be some creature that can be driven out) the chronic angers of that house (coldness due to age, or lack of repair of the house, and it’s been a long time)

Review What does the title “Those Winter Sundays” mean to you after you finish reading the poem and analyzing it? Why does the poet set the poem on Winter Sundays, what does it show especially?

Conclusive Remarks With the situation set on “those winter Sundays,” when the rest of the members kept themselves warm in bed, and the other households may be safeguarded against the winter chill on a day free, Hayden uses a grown-up speaker with regretful tone to recall the “austere and lonely offices of love” performed by the father. In terms of structural development, with three stanzas, the poet highlights the father’s lonely (but loving) tasks by contrasting the father making fire in dark coldness and the speaker’s indifference, which builds up to the regretful appreciation and understanding of the father’s love at the end of the poem.

Effects of Diction and Figures of Speech The sharp contrasts between patterns of words that denote warmth and coldness, the father’s tasks of love in fire-making and the speaker’s indifference perform together with the vivid and contrasting images of warmth and coldness in the poem. The word “austere,” which refers especially to physical hardship, echoes the description that the father endures winter chill on early Sunday mornings in order to drive out coldness from the household for his family. And it also corresponds to the picture in which the father makes banked fires with his “cracked hands,” which is a result of his of physical labor under the impact of the literal and metaphorical “weather” during week days.

The use of metaphors and personification such as the “chronic angers of the house” not only depicts vivid pictures of the winter chill, the conditions of the speaker’s house, suggests the hardship the speaker’s family encountered, but also generates more associations about the family situations. In contrast to the chronic angers of the house, the descriptions that coldness is something that can be heard “splintering” and “breaking,” something that can be “driven out” with the warmth of the fires, and the father’s love, reinforce and enrich the poet’s verbal presentations of “love’s austere and lonely offices.” Likewise, we have observed a lively and thought-provoking performances of words depicting the father-child relationship and childhood memories in the poem.

the Performances of Words Let's Enjoy the Performances of Words in More Poems