Those Winter Sundays

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Those winter Sundays By Robert Hayden Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house, Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices? Robert Hayden; was an American poet, essayist , educator. He was appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1976. On April 21, 2012, a U.S. Postage Stamp, within a pane of 10 Twentieth Century Poets, was issued featuring Hayden this poem is about A speaker looking back on his childhood, and remembering how he didn't feel any love from his father. His winters used to be cold, both in feelings and in atmosphere. His Father was a reserved man, and didn't say his feelings to his son outright, but when the son looks back he understands that all of the things his father did for him were out of love, and he is saddened by this realization that came too late. The meaning of the words: Blueblack: color. Cracked: broken in the skin. Ached: painful. Labor: toy and hard work. Banked fires: the fire place. Bank: place to put your money. (p.p) to provide aside. Rise: rise from bed, stand up. Chronic: very old. Indifferently: with not a lot of care. Polished: make something shiny. Offices: situation and position. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Paraphrasing: Sundays too my father got up early And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, The poet is trying to show us that his father is a hard working man so he also works on

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