Those Winter Sundays

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1962

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Sundays

The word “Sundays” appears in the title and is the first word of the poem. Hayden could have picked any day, and the poem’s rhythm and form wouldn’t have changed, so the choice of Sunday is intentional and meaningful.

In Christianity, Sunday is the day of rest. In the book of Genesis, Sunday is the day God rests after creating heaven and earth. Considering this and the poem’s religious allusions earlier outlined in this guide, the use of Sunday here is important. Unlike God, the speaker’s father does not get to rest on Sundays. Instead, he spends the day of rest in service to his children.

The use of this specific day of the week amplifies the poem’s religious connotations and helps connect the father’s love for his child to the agape love the Christian God has for His children.

The Fire and the Cold

Fire can represent many things, but is often a sign of life, passion, or love. Though fire can be deadly, it is one of the most fundamental things humans need to survive. Fire supplies warmth and light and is essential for cooking. In ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and delivered it to humans, allowing them to survive in a cold, dark world. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, a fire provides the people in the cave with the illumination they need to shed their chains and embrace philosophy. And even Christian mythology describes God’s judgment as fire and brimstone, suggesting fire is an object of power that only a figure of authority wields.

On the other hand, the cold is often associated with death and sadness. Hayden amplifies this connotation with his first introduction of the cold, describing it as “blueblack” (Line 2). He uses the colors of a bruise—painful and darkly hued—to add even more power to the cold that the father pushes back with his warmth.

Interestingly, the father archetype is often a cold one. Writers regularly portray paternal figures as the cold complement to the warm mother. Hayden inverts this. There is no mother figure in this poem and the father is the one who brings warmth, despite his seemingly cold exterior (the grizzled, calloused, blue-collar worker). The inversion of paternal roles and the connotation of fire bringer help the reader see the father as an almost divine figure of love and protection.

Hands and Feet

Hayden’s first description of the father is “cracked hands that ached / from labor” (Lines 3-4). The image of cracked hands suggests a blue-collar worker who provides for his family through manual labor. Yet it is these cracked and weathered hands that bring light and warmth to the house. These are the hands that create the day for as once the fire is burning, the child slowly rises and dresses, ready for the day.

While the speaker describes the father by describing his hands, the last stanza describes the child with an image of feet. The father polishes the child’s “good shoes” (Line 12) with the same hands that built the fire. While the father’s hands play a creator’s role with their building of the fire, they also play a worshipper’s role with their devotion of the foot. In the book of John, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet to show his devotion and service to them. Similarly, the father—a Christ figure—washes the shoes of the son because he serves and is devoted to him.