Those Winter Sundays is a poem written by Robert Hayden. The poem involves a speaker who one can infer regrets not being grateful to a figure he calls "father" (Poetryfoundation.org). This “father” forms the basis of the poem such that all the themes presented in the poem revolve around him. The speaker clearly describes how his childhood view of his father changed as he grew up. This article will analyze three main points that the poem "Those Winter Sundays" explicitly communicates to its audience. Contextual evidence from the poem will be relied upon to ascertain the presence of the points mentioned in the poem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The first point is a hardworking father full of fatherly love. Throughout the poem, the speaker portrays his father as a loving family man who worked hard for his entire family. In the first line of the first stanza, the speaker states that, “Even on Sundays my father woke up early,” and again in the fourth line of the first stanza the speaker states that, “From work on weekdays if done,” This indicates that, even when his father wasn't expected to wake up early on Sundays, he could just wake up and do some chores that he might otherwise have avoided if he hadn't worked hard. To demonstrate how loving of a father he was, the speaker claims that his father could have "polished my good shoes too" in the third line of the third stanza. The second point concerns family violence. There is a notion of family violence throughout the poem. The speaker in the second line of the first stanza talks about 'blueblack cold', a phrase that directly connects to an environment and a violent environment most likely in the family. The speaker states that “Fearing the chronic rages of that house” in the fourth line of the second stanza, which directly refers to how violent the speaker's house was. It can be argued that it is this "father" who propagates the violence experienced in the speaker's home. The first line of the third stanza makes this point evident as the speaker narrates that “Speaking indifferently to him” means that the speaker fears his father most likely due to his violent nature. The third point of the poem concerns the realization that the speaker's father deserved better treatment from all members of his family. The second line of the third stanza, “Who had chased away the cold” indicates the speaker's realization of the role his father played in the family. The context of the term cold in this sentence cannot be used to refer to the family's internal violence but rather to the external challenges that his father worked hard to eliminate and for which he deserved credit. To further demonstrate that the speaker actually realized that his father required more gratitude, in the fourth line of the third stanza, the speaker states that "What did I know, what did I know?", a statement which clearly explains that the speaker He finally realized what his father deserved. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Those Winter Sundays is clearly a poem that uses all the tools and elements of poetry to highlight some familiar themes that existed during its author's years. Every word, verse and verse helps to effectively bring out the meaning of family life in the years of the author, considered one of the pioneer poets of African-American descent. Therefore, in reading and explaining the.