Those Winter Sundays

I liked this poem because you didn't have beat it with a hammer to get its meaning. you only had to barely look under the surface. "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden talks about a child's memories of his or her father. In the fist stanza, Hayden tells about the dad's work and how it damaged his aching hands. "[C]racked hands the ached from the labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze." This line from the passage reminds me of my dad's hands because they are often dry and cracked from his work. The next stanza, Hayden discusses the house and its atmosphere. "I'd wake and hear the coal splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he'd call and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house." This stanza some what confused me, but I was able to sort of relate to it. The line where Hayden says "fearing of the chronic angers of that house" makes me wonder if the parents did not get along, or if they had financial problems so there was tension, or the dad was angry from doing so much work. I was, however, able to relate this part because I have had times where my parents wake me up and I lay in bed and wonder if they are upset or if I am in trouble. The third stanza talks about the child's interactions with his or her father. "Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well." This line makes me think that the reader feels guilty for not being more grateful to his or her father because even though the dad did all these favors on top of working hard. The final stanza is more from the readers matured view. "What did I know, what did I know Of love's austere and lonely offices. This final line leads me to believe that the reader once he or she was older and more mature understood that his or her dad in reality did love him or her but may not have shown it through hugs and kisses but through favors and hard work.