2. ROBERT HAYDEN
Biography
• Born in 1913
• American poet
• Essayist
• Educator
• Written political poetry
including a sequence on
the vietnam war
Picture
3. Organization of the Poem
• Consists of three stanzas
• The first stanza, Lines(1-5)
• - Focused upon the suffering of Father.
• -The father sacrifices himself to get up
early in the morning, and warm the home
for his family.
_Ends with a very powerful line,”No one ever
thanked him”
4. Organization of the poem
• The second stanza,(6-9)
• - once warmth is achieved,the father calls his
• son to rise and get dressed.
• -mentions “chronic angers”in the house-hold.
5. Organization of the Poem
The third stanza . [10-14]
-Begins with the image of distance
as a continuation of the last line of
the second stanza[speaking
indifferently to him]
-Speaker admits his ignorance over
the simple love for his father
[…..what did I know of loves austere
and lonely offices?]
6. Imagery
• Cracked hands
• Implies the rough
labour that the father
do
• Sunday
• Typically is a day of
Rest…shows that the
father got up early
7. Imagery
Sunday
to do things for the
family
Fire
- shows a contrast with
blue black cold.
-shows a sense of
liveliness and anger as
well.
8. Those winter sundays
• Review
• -the poem is about filial ingratitude and
parental devotion.
• -this devotion is only realised when the
children grow into maturity.
• -parental love and affection are expressed
through simple and gentle acts of care and
kindness such as kindling the fire polishing the
shoes without expecting others to thank him.
