"Those Winter Days"
Robert Hayden
This poem was very interesting, but also a little confusing to me because I'm not sure of the exact meaning. At first I thought that his father was just dedicated to his family and did not receive any thanks from his family for his hard work. However, a friend brought up the idea that he was abusive toward his family, which also seemed possible because of the phrase "chronic angers of that house" (Hayden, line 9). Both seem possible, so I'm a bit confused to Hayden's real meaning. I do want to focus a little on the imagery because that is very important to the poem and its unresolved (for me) themes. The first stanza explained services his father performed, seemingly selflessly, for his family like working hard and keeping the house warm with a fire. One line stuck out to me as important, and it makes me lean towards the idea of an unappreciated father figure, rather than abusive. "No one ever thanked him" (Hayden, line 5) offers the image of a hard-working man who is respected but somehow never thanked. Well, now that I think about that line more, I lean the other way, towards an abusive figure who frightened them. Also, "speaking indifferently" (Hayden, line 10) creates an image of scared children who were not emotionally involved with their father. So overall with this poem, I am unsure of its meaning and will need to get a better grasp of others' opinions tomorrow in the discussion.
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