Those Winter Sundays And My Papa's Waltz Analysis

Superior Essays
Righteousness and Responsibility
What does being a father really mean? The complex role of fatherhood is explored in “Those Winter Sundays” and “My Papa's Waltz.” The two fathers in the poems have extremely different ideas about what being a father truly entails. The distinct differences in the father’s level of responsibility is evident in the time of day in which the poem occurs, the atmosphere they create within their home, their morals, and the appearance of their hands and tasks they perform. The setting of each poem represents the father’s character. More specifically, both poets purposely choose certain times of the day to set each poem. Hayden introduces his setting on a hopeful note: “Sundays too my father got up early” (1). “Those Winter Sundays” is set during the winter time on a Sunday morning. According to traditional literary symbolism, the morning time represents renewal and cleanliness; furthermore, Sunday
…show more content…
The fathers create a certain atmosphere within the home according to their actions and presence. In “Those Winter Sundays,” the father creates a warm, loving environment. “When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress...” (Hayden 7-8). As the father lights the fire, he warms the home and creates environment that lends itself to a sense of unity and responsibility within the family. On the other hand, the father of “My Papa’s Waltz” has an opposite effect on the atmosphere of the home: “We romped until the pans / Slid from the kitten shelf / My mother’s countenance / Could not unfrown itself” (Roethke 5-8). Instead of a calm warmth, this father contributes a frenzied and chaotic heat. This chaos leads to tension in the family’s relations; the mother is clearly unhappy with the father’s actions. Overall, how the father contributes to the atmosphere or environment of the home is a gauge of the level of responsibility of the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hayden’s poem “Those Winter Sundays” the speaker is a grown up man who reminds on his childhood relationship with his father. The speaker feels like he is divided in two; the child who is afraid of his dad and in the other hand, the adult who looks back at him with love, appreciation, and understanding. As an adult, he recognized his father’s job, in and out of his home as a form of love. He now sees it, because he is a gown up and is completely matured. The speaker is telling us that his father every Sunday get up early to light fires in the fireplace to warm up their home.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Those Winter Sundays” is technically a sonnet as it has 14 lines, however, it does not rhyme and is not in iambic pentameter. Nevertheless, sonnets are frequently identified as an expression of love and although “Those Winter Sundays” describes a love a father shows his children, it shares this commonality. In contrast, “We Real Cool” is broken in four stanzas, each containing a two line couplet. The rhyme is in the middle of the couplet not the end like many traditional poems giving readers a sense of continuity as the poem flows from line to line.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert Hayden’s sorrowful “Those Winter Sundays” demonstrates how the utilization of allusions, consonance, symbolism, and alliteration establish a dramatic and emotional effect. Beginning with the word “Sundays,” Hayden references Christianity, generating images of a resurrected son, sacrificed by his own father. Building upon the same tensions found in this familiar story, the speaker shares bittersweet remembrances of Sunday mornings with his father. Like the Christian story of God’s son Jesus, suffering, sacrifice and exaltation are prominent themes. Through these allusions and careful attention to the effect of sound, Hayden paints a harsh picture of a father who makes many sacrifices for his son, but also brutalizes him.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The controversy of if a relationship with fathers growing up is important has been a argumentative topic for a while. Some believe that a relationship is essential while others disagree. Authors Sarah Vowell in “Shooting Dad” and Brad Manning in “Arm Wrestling with My Father” think that this relationship is important. Even though they both think their fathers are important they describe their views about them differently as they go throughout their childhoods, adolescence and young adulthoods. In her childhood, Vowel sees her father as a “god like figure” but not in the way one would think.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Walking down the street with his boy Johnny, John tries to make conversation with his boy but finds it hard. John knows very little about his son and the barrier in between them is big enough to block out any insight John could have gained into Johnny's life. He has always prioritized himself over others, wanted to feel good and look good in the public’s eyes. John does not look at the end goal of his priorities, how it may affect his family or what he is missing out on and the idea of losing the relationship he had with his family slipped past him.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This poet has showed the emotions of fear and love through word choice, imagery, and metaphors. Although the poem may sound simple and easy to understand, “My Papa’s Waltz” is really a complex story of parental love and abuse. The title of “My Papa’s Waltz”…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Parent child relationship is very sensitive. The theme of the two poems “My Father in the Navy: A Childhood Memory” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden shows the ‘Father’ plays an important role in the upbringing of child and sacrifices his days and nights in hard labors or services in order to provide the needs of his beloved children. Similarly a child returns a father’s love and care by showing his/her admiration and affection. . “Those Winter Sundays” is a story of a hardworking father and his son. The son realizes the love that the father bestowed upon him, but too light, still the lines of the poem depicts the appreciation and admiration that the child…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem Hayden states, “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueback cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor” (Hayden). In this quote the speaker goes back in the times and talks about his past and explains the imperfect relationship he had with his father. He said that his father used to be a hardworking man who even worked on the weekends to provide for his family. But no one ever cared or thanked him the way he deserved. He said, “he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house” (Hayden).…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He Loves Me In the poem "My Papa 's Waltz" written by Theodore Roethke, most readers believe that it is about abuse. Is it possible? Of course it is, it depends on who’s reading the poem and their interpretation of the poem. The use of language, diction, imagery, and symbols, along with the tone helps to influence how readers come to their own conclusion on what the poem is really about.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” differ in the attitudes and tones of their speakers, they are alike in the complex family relationships and themes of familial love, masculinity and sacrifice, and nostalgic youth that they communicate to the reader. A close-reading of the poems, with special attention paid to the speakers and the ideas they are trying to get across, can end up telling far more about Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden than they may like. The speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a small boy having a grand old time waltzing with his father in the kitchen before bed. His father is a little rough with him, keeping time on his noggin and accidently scraping his ear against his belt buckle on every…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz, there is love found within by a man’s memories of his childhood relationship with his Father. “Those Winter Sundays” is about a man who is remembering the relationship he had with his father through regret, because he realizes how unappreciative he was. “My Father’s Song” is a man reminiscing on the actions his father makes when showing him the value of life and how to grow up. Within both of these poems the father-son relationship does not show verbal communication. In “Those Winter Sundays,” this lack of communication helps indicate the distance between the two, whereas the communication breakdown in “My Father’s Song” reflects the connection that the two…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When the reader first analyzes the poem, it naturally comes of as harsh or scary. The first thought that comes to mind is that the drunken father is abusing the child. Although after further analysis of the poem it seems as though that is not the case. The poem doesn’t sound as though it was the happiest memory of the child’s life, but it wasn’t a memory he feared either. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” written by Theodore Roethke, the speaker’s experience seems to be a positive one based on the rhythm and word choice.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” is a tribute to his father. In the poem, Hayden uses many literary devices to describe the vivid memories of his father during his childhood. The poem describes how his father was a hardworking man, and how he taken for granted the sacrificing duties his father endures to make sure the family is okay. The very first word in the first line, “Sundays” makes a reference to Christianity.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He keeps the house warm by going out to collect wood for the fire in the snow so his child does not have to. The other is a drunken father who dances with his child, creating a bond through the time they spend together. My papa’s waltz is a poem about parents. The poem speaks of a young boy dancing with his drunken father.…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Courageous Movie Analysis

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When we look at the true role of the father, we see how essential it is to the wellbeing of the family. As we see in culture today, families without a father are not complete or fully flourishing. This element in the movie is an overlooked reality which is essential to the well being of…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics