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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Those winter Sundays- Robert Hayden

The first time I read this poem I took it as a bitter son looking back as his youth and criticizing his father. After I reread it I took it as the complete opposite. I pictured a grown man remembering how his father went unappreciated when he was growing up. He probably was now having to face the same challenges of working and providing for a family that he had taken for granted when he was growing up. My mom always jokes about how "I'll appreciate her someday!" well this is "someday" for this guy. He realizes that he was just expecting to have his house warm and shoes shined when he woke up every morning, and didn't realize that his father was behind this with cracked and aching hands. This poem was pretty straight forward, but still very true. I'm not as blinded as this boy seems to be, but I know I do take a lot of things my parents do for me for granted, and I'm in for a surprise when I start to live on my own, just as this boy in this poem is experiencing.

1 comment:

  1. I think you can take both readings together--but to just see him as bitter probably isn't enough. Good observation!

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