Those winter sundays essay

Annotated bibliography: Those winter sundaysThis poem is written by Robert Hayden, product of a Detroit ghetto in Michigan. But because of his ability developed for Literature out of passion for reading in his childhood, the man wrote very distinct poems in history.  He emerged to be one of the great poets of his time. Among them are: The Whipping, Middle Passage, Runagate, and Frederick Douglass. He is the first African American to have been chosen as consultant in the Library of Congress. His poems are greatly influenced by the period of emancipation of his race in America. His poems were written during a period where he was also attacked by people of his color which he was distinctly able to assert as being an American poet, not only a black poet. This poem is all about a father who serves his family by providing warmth on a cold winter Sunday.

He is a hard-working man who prioritizes his family’s needs, neglecting his own. The author must be referring to his own father whom he witnessed his sacrifices for his family. Hayden must have been referring to his foster father who took good care of him after being given up by his parents. In the poem, it talks about duties being done but with much resentment. He grew up in a home with anger emanating around him.

But despite the fact that he is not his real son, he treated him like his own. ‘ Polished my good shoes as well’ speaks of his dedication to this child, ensuring that he is well taken care of. But at the same time, I can feel the resentment of the father in doing so. ‘ No one ever thanked him’ say a lot of things. The father though has served his family and sacrificed much did not receive gratitude from the ones he has served. I would think that due to the grudges being bore by everyone, gratitude did not exist in the midst of them. ‘ I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress’, give me an idea of the poet’s household. I can imagine the economic state this family was in. During his childhood in the ghetto where he grew up in, pieces of coal were used to burn for warmth. And while they were being burnt up, one would hear the splintering of the coal. He was afraid of his father when he calls him. This is due to the authority associated to fathers in the family and the fear of getting hurt if being disobedient. ‘ Fearing the chronic angers of that house’ reveals the violence the child was exposed to. The word ‘ chronic’ is a strong word to describe the anger that existed in the household and ‘ anger’ in the plural form.

This proves that different forms of violence were displayed to the child.  The poet was said to have suffered depressive bouts in his adulthood. Trauma resulting from the raging anger he saw in the four corners of their tiny house. ‘ Love’s austere and lonely offices’ says of their very simple life at the ghetto.

An austere life gives one an idea that they only live on the most basic things: food, shelter and clothing. They were experiencing a difficult life due to the limited opportunities deprived of their color. Hayden grew up in that time of history when his color was a factor in looking for a job or discrimination persisted anywhere they go. He grew up in a time when there is so much pain anywhere he went. There were so many emotions he bore on piles within him. Hayden was said to be influenced as well by his Bahá’í faith that believes that there is unity in spirit among all people. He wrote his poems to educate people about the pains of racism.

His poems speak of pain by people who suffer discrimination. This poem gives us a glimpse of how he has become triumphant despite the difficulties of being undermined. This poem is very far from the Shakespearean poems I have read. I can definitely feel the pain in between the lines which Hayden clearly wanted to deliver to his audience. He was successful in achieving this.