The Portrayal of Father to Child Relationship in Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”

Marcella English 10 Period 5 The portrayal of Father to child Relationship in Robert Haydens Those Winter sunshines According to photographer and designer Anne Geddes, Any mankind can be a father but it takes someone special(a) to be a dad. Being a father is non a simple task. Those Winter Sundays exemplifies how difficult fatherhood could be, and how parent to children affection could be hidden by certain circumstances, such as hard living. through and through the poem Robert Hayden shows how the speaker is ashamed in believing that his father did non turn in him, and how now he understands that love is not only shown by tidingss but also by actions.Robert Hayden uses imagery, typeism and irony of daub to carry the main message of the poem which is about fatherhood. Imagery is the fundamental law of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively (dictionary. com). The reader is condition mental pictures about the things that occur in the po em. First, the reader can pretend a father figure waking up early morning to get wood to make the house warm. It is also implied that the father woke up in the darkness and that he is a ward worker from the firstly stanza.Readers can also imagine the childs position in the house, how the child respects his father (stanza 2). The next imagery is the father fancify the childs shoes, which implies that he takes care of his child/family, placing himself second. Through these imageries, the writer has illustrated the fatherly love to his child even in hard circumstances. another(prenominal) major literary device used in this poem is symbolic representationism. symbol is an image or a word that represents something beyond the literal meaning. thither are four significant symbols in Those Winter Sundays. The first symbol is pass, which symbolizes misery.It could be in the form of death, old age, sorrows, or regrets. In general, winter means unpleasant or hard times. In this poem the word winter describes the overall mood of it, which is sad and challenging. The next major symbol is Sunday, which in western culture represents the day of rest. It is commonly known as the day of pleasure. Therefore, winter Sundays could symbolize a paradox, describing the contradictory elements of the poem to break down more dramatic and ironic effect, because as it is mentioned in line 1 to 3, and the father keeps on working even though it is Sunday.In the same bureau as winter, cold also represents pain and discomfort. In contradictory to cold, there is fire, which seems to be the solution to the discomfort. Fire can also symbolize love. In this case, all this four symbols are used to build a business relationship of fatherly love. That unfortunately was not clear enough to be observe by the son at the time. Irony of situation is the difference amongst what is likely to happen and what actually does happen. Throughout the poem the speaker mentions the Sunday routine of the father, showing how the father worked hard for the familys sound being. up to now, beneficial as the speaker mentions No one ever thanked him (Line 5). This illustrates how the father worked for the family and its well being, proving that he thus cared and loved them, as he never waited to be recognized for his actions. Hence never being thanked after all the work. However in the last stanza it is shown how the speaker regrets treating the father indifferently for not verbally showing his love, What did I know, what did I know (Line 13) proving how the speaker has indeed grown more mature, and has finally understood the meaning of sacrifices, and an alternative focusing of showing love.In conclusion, the poem Those Winter Sundays is a poem of regret and spirit as the speaker finally has understood his fathers love to him. This poem was intended to be personal, from child to father, as an apology for his military strength as a child. Through this poem, the reader could reflect about the sacrifices through with(p) by parent. Sacrifices that are often dismissed but that will curtly after have an effect in our life.