1. Poetry Handout
By Kusumitha Nekkanti

2. Li- Young Lee Born August 19, 1957 in Indonesia
Parents were political exiles
Attended University of Pittsburgh
Developed his passion for writing with his father’s help
Wrote his own poems under the guidance of Gerald Stern
Influenced by classic Chinese poet

3. Eating Alone Summary The speaker remembers walking with his father
His father shows him different things in the outdoors
The speaker feels as if his father is there with him, only to find out he is not there
The speaker feels alone as he has to eat by himself

4. Thoughts
“Once, years back, I walked beside my father among the windfall pears. ”
Remembers memories with his father so vividly
Memories are pleasant
“The garden is bare now. The ground is cold, brown and old”
Imagery
Only remembers negative aspects of the fall; negative connoation
“What more could I, a young man, want
Left alone at a young age
Eating is a communal activity. Even though the speaker seems to have filling food that can feed many people, he is left eating alone.
Life, death, and loneliness are a part of life

5. Robert Hayden Born August 4, 1913. Died February 25, 1980.
Taken in by foster family
Witnessed many fights and had a traumatic childhood
Majored in Spanish at Detroit City College
Worked for the Federal Writer’s Project
Studied poetry under W.H. Auden in at University of Michigan
Most famous poem is Those Winter Sundays
Hayden witnessed frequent verbal and physical bouts between his foster parents during his childhood years. The trauma he sustained as a result of this experience spurred periods of debilitating depression.

6. Those Winter Sundays Summary
Father got up early to make house warm for the family
No one thanks the dad for his hard work
The speaker would only talk to his dad after getting up, but with no affection
Ends the poem saying he did not know much about his father’s love, but now he does.

7. Thoughts
“Sundays too my father got up early/ and put clothes on in the blueblack cold”
Before sunrise and super cold
Synesthesia: coldness is being described with colors instead of feeling
“Then with cracked hands that ached/ from labor in the weekday weather made/ banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.”
Alliteration: sounds very harsh
Family is ungrateful
“I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking”
Personification of the cold
The harshness of the alliteration reflects the cold and unpleasant condition the father is working in.

8. Thoughts ”Fearing the chronic angers of that house”
The people in the house are unhappy
Contrast from the beginning of the poem
“What did I know, what did I know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices?”
Speaker finally understands his father’s love
Love is not all rainbows and sunshine; it can be tough

9. THE END