“Those Winter Sundays” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Those Winter Sundays”

“Those Winter Sundays” Summary

“Those Winter Sundays” Themes

• 

  Family and Parenting

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-14
• 

  Growing Up and Memory

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2
  • Line 5
  • Lines 6-10
  • Lines 11-14

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Those Winter Sundays”

• Lines 1-2

  Sundays too my ...
  ... the blueblack cold,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-5

  then with cracked ...
  ... ever thanked him.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-9

  I’d wake and ...
  ... of that house,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-12

  Speaking indifferently to ...
  ... shoes as well.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  What did I ...
  ... and lonely offices?

  

  

  

  

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“Those Winter Sundays” Symbols

• 

  Fire

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “banked fires blaze”
  • Line 6: “the cold splintering, breaking”
  • Line 7: “the rooms were warm”
  • Line 11: “driven out the cold”

“Those Winter Sundays” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “c,” “c”
  • Line 3: “c”
  • Line 4: “w,” “w”
  • Line 5: “b,” “b”
  • Line 7: “W,” “w,” “w”
  • Line 14: “l,” “l”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “o,” “a,” “o”
  • Line 3: “a,” “a,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 4: “a,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 5: “a,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 6: “a,” “i,” “i,” “ea,” “i”
  • Line 8: “I,” “i”
  • Line 10: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 13: “o,” “o”
  • Line 14: “o,” “o,” “au,” “o,” “o”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “blaze. No”
  • Line 6: “splintering, breaking”
  • Line 7: “warm, he’d”
  • Line 13: “know, what”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “cl,” “bl,” “bl,” “ck,” “c,” “l,” “d”
  • Line 3: “c,” “ck,” “d,” “nd,” “ch,” “d”
  • Line 4: “l,” “w,” “k,” “d,” “w,” “d”
  • Line 5: “b,” “nk,” “d,” “b,” “l,” “nk,” “d”
  • Line 6: “k,” “c,” “l,” “l,” “k”
  • Line 7: “W,” “r,” “m,” “w,” “r,” “w,” “r,” “m”
  • Line 8: “s,” “l,” “w,” “l,” “w”
  • Line 11: “d,” “d,” “d”
  • Line 12: “d,” “sh,” “d,” “d,” “sh,” “ll”
  • Line 13: “W,” “d,” “d,” “kn,” “w,” “d,” “d,” “kn”
  • Line 14: “l,” “s,” “s,” “l,” “l,” “c,” “s”

• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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  Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “cold,”
  • Line 5: “him.”
  • Line 6: “breaking.”
  • Line 7: “call,”
  • Line 8: “dress,”
  • Line 9: “house,”
  • Line 10: “him,”
  • Line 12: “well.”
  • Line 14: “offices?”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “early / and”
  • Lines 3-4: “ached / from”
  • Lines 4-5: “made / banked”
  • Lines 11-12: “cold / and”
  • Lines 13-14: “know / of”

• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

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  Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

  • Line 13: “What did I know, what did I know”

• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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  Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

  • Lines 13-14: “What did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?”

“Those Winter Sundays” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Blueblack
• Banked
• Chronic
• Indifferently
• Austere
• Offices

• (Location in poem: Line 2: “blueblack”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Those Winter Sundays”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Those Winter Sundays” Speaker

“Those Winter Sundays” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Those Winter Sundays”

More “Those Winter Sundays” Resources

• External Resources

  • Hayden's Childhood — A brief interview segment that mentions Hayden's upbringing.  

  • A Reading by Hayden — The poem read by the poet himself. 

  • Hayden at the Brockport Writers Forum — Hayden reads his poetry and discusses his influences.  

  • Hayden's Life and Work — A valuable resource about Hayden from the Poetry Foundation. 

  • Hayden and the Academy of American Poets — Hayden's written response to being nominated to the prestigious Academy of American Poets.