Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early

And put his clothes on in the blueback 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?

Those Winter Sundays written by Robert Hayden is spoken through the eyes of a grown-up man remembering his childhood and relationship with his father. It is evident that there was a distance between the father and son and very little communication, it is also clear, however subtly, through the sacrifices and suffering of the father that there was also love present.

In the first stanza the speaker points out that even though it is Sunday and his hands ached, his father is still the first to rise and make the house habitable on cold, “blueblack” mornings. There are many examples of dramatic, vivid imagery such as “blueblack” which illustrates the bitter, numbing cold invading the house before sunlight has even warmed it and “cracked hands” telling the reader that the father works hard during the week, probably outside which again because of the season refers to the cold. After such eloquence the bluntness in the last sentence, “no one ever thanked him”, makes the statement even stronger. This statement also tells the reader that everyone else in the house was unappreciative as the son was of everything his father did. The fact that the father is the first to rise and build the fire shows that there are no servants or central heating which implies the inhabitants are most likely poor.

In the second stanza the speaker is lying in the safety and warmth of his bed as he waits for his dad to warm the house and literally hears the cold “splintering” and “breaking” as his dad breaks wood for a fire. Figuratively also to the son the cold would appear to be “breaking” up and disappearing from the house. The extremity of these words adds to the drama of the poem and the father-son relationship. The “chronic angers of the house” could refer literally to the house meaning the creaking and cracking of old wood or the deterioration of a worn out house. Or the line could be more figurative, referring to the people within the house and possibly the anger of the father which could imply child abuse, however because of the love that is presented through the sacrifices of the father, I think it is the former.

The speaker has now risen and seen his father, “speaking indifferently to him”. The son uncaringly brushes him off, not realizing the sacrifices his father makes for his son because he loves him. Although the question, “what did I know?” could be viewed as an excuse but because the speaker was a kid at the time it is probably an honest question. The repetition furthers this assumption because it is true, how many kids realize the sacrifices parents make while the parents are making them and they are still children? The repeated question provides an accurate explanation for the son’s indifference. It also helps us understand why now as an adult the son can appreciate and respect his father because the son has finally grasped the reason his father “drove out the cold and polished [his] good shoes as well”. It was out of love. In the last line of the poem the term “offices” does not represent a room but instead a sense of authority and responsibility which can be applied to the father and his need to look out for his son. It brings to mind the phrase “it is lonely at the top” because children do not yet have the insight and experience to realize the different forms love can take. The son only sees the father’s austerity and distance from him and misses the subtle signs of love he displays through working hard for the family during the week, rising early, and polishing his son’s shoes. The son’s inability to grasp the meaning of those actions leads him to under appreciate his father and not return his love until he is older. This poem is a lament of the speaker’s failure to recognize his father’s attempts at showing his love as a child and therefore a sadness over the fact he never returned that love.