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Combined Meaning in Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays"
Ryan Watters
God's Bible School & College

Combined Meaning in Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”

We often take for granted the mundane tasks that our parents performed for us while growing up. We never stopped to thank them for their sacrifice. Because of this many people today are plagued by a sense of regret. This is the emotion that Robert Hayden tries to capture in “Those Winter Sundays.”

One of the first things we notice about the poem is that everything is in the past tense. For example, “Got up early,” and, “What did I know.” The persona is obviously looking back at this period of time in his life. It portrays a sad narrative that is too often the case in everyday life. Hayden uses this past tense to give us a reference point from which the persona is now looking at the poem. This “reference point” is vital to understanding the subliminal message of the poem. The persona is obviously looking back at this point in his life in an almost split fashion. He is bringing out simple facts and details, but in a way that expresses emotion.

While the gender of the persona is not explicitly stated, the context of the poem seems to indicate a male speaker. For example, line twelve uses the phrase “and polished my good shoes as well.” While girl’s shoes are sometimes polished, the use of these terms is generally connected to a male. In any case, for the purposes of this paper we will assume that the persona is masculine.

The poem itself has a sad, almost mournful feel to it. Not only is the subject matter itself negative, but the specific words Hayden uses are also negative. Wording such as “blueblack cold” and, “cracked hands that ached” supports the sense of melancholy. There are very few positive (encouraging) words in the poem. Not only are the words negative, they are negative to the point of being sharp. For instance, it uses onomatopoeic words such as “cracked,” “ached,” “splintering,” and “breaking.” These words collaborate to form a negative aura to the poem. This could well indicate the persona’s view of the time period from his childhood perspective. It’s almost as if he is using two vantage points when looking back at his past. First, he views if from his perspective as a child, and secondly, from his perspective as an adult. An example of this is found in line ten, which states, “Speaking indifferently to him,” indicating a disrespect for his father as a child. Still, in lines thirteen through fourteen he states, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” Here the persona’s opinion of his father obviously changes to one of respect as he looks back on the situation as an adult. This is partially the cause for the emotional impact this poem possesses. Readers today connect with this concept of “split vision” in remembrance. The reader also looks back from both of these perspectives and sees how, many times, improper respect was given.

It is also interesting in the last half of line five, the shift in the style of writing. The first four and a half lines have a sense of fluidity. They seem to almost roll, or bounce along, in perfect form. Yet the last half of line five shifts from this style into a more rigid, concise, structure. Another reason for this “break” in the feel is the fact that the first four and a half lines are one connected sentence consisting of thirty-two words, whereas the next sentence consists of five words. There is also a change in the subject matter of the two parts. The first half deals more in the realm of the non-emotional, delivering pure facts. For example, “Sunday too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold.” It serves as more of a narrative for telling a story than for emotional impact. While the first half, simply by the nature of the facts given, evokes some emotion based on the high value today’s culture places on hard work and sacrifice (e.g. “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather”), the last half stirs something deep in the heart of the reader. To sacrifice without recognition is strongly degraded in the mindset of modern culture.

One of the most captivating lines of the poem is line nine, which uses the phrase, “fearing the chronic angers of that house.” This line is open to multiple interpretations. Because of the context of the poem, and the use of three negative words (“fearing,” “chronic,” and “angers”) in the phrase, the message this line delivers is obviously negative. Given the fact that the next line states how the persona spoke “indifferently” to his father it implies that there was a schism between he and his father. This is supported by the use of the “sharp” words previously discussed. In a sense the “sharp” words parallel the schism. Again, this stirs emotion in the reader by touching the natural disdain for the tensions that occur with conflict.

Perhaps the two most important lines of the poem are found at the very end in lines thirteen and fourteen. These words evoke such deep, sincere, and unfeigned remorse that it brings the reader to the edge of tears. You can truly sense the frustration and agony of the persona. I would argue that his is perhaps the main theme of the poem, because this is the only place we find the persona repeating himself. You can hear the persona rebuking himself for his self-centeredness by repeating the question “What did I know, what did I know.” In essence, he is recognizing that his father truly loved him, in spite of the loneliness he (the persona) may have caused by his “indifference.”

The message that “Those Winter Sundays” delivers comes from both the textual meaning, and from the style which Hayden uses to write. They combine in a symbiotic relationship to convey the depth and meaning that could not otherwise have been expressed. For example, in the prose translation of the poem I used the phrase, “I knew nothing, absolutely nothing of the strict and lonely tasks of my father?” While this does convey the correct meaning, it falls far short of the emotional impact created by Hayden’s words, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” It goes beyond the surface level text, and uses carefully chosen words to subliminally create a greater emotion within the reader.

“Those Winter Sundays” truly succeeds in its attempt to convey emotion not only through mere text, but also through style, and specific word choice. It portrays a beauty and depth that would in no wise have been obtained had it not been for the proper choice of words. This is what gives the depth and richness to Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays.”

“Those Winter Sundays” Prose Translation

My father also got up early on Sundays, putting his clothes on in the cold, early hours of the morning. Then, with hands that were cracked and hurting from the hard labor and weather of the previous week, he would stoke the fire into life. No one ever thanked him.

I would wake up to hear the fire crackling in the fireplace, driving out the cold. When the rooms were warm he would call me, and slowly I would get out of bed and begin getting dressed. All the while I dreaded the fact that I would have to deal with the relational problems of the day.

I never even thanked my father who had driven out the cold, and even polished my good shoes. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing of the strict and lonely tasks of my father.