Those Winter Sundays Essay Example for Free

Those Winter Sundays Essay Upon first reading the poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden, I was an objective reader who assumed Hayden was looking back with nostalgia at his lost childhood. Without researching the poem, as well as Hayden himself, I had no way of knowing his background as an adopted child to unhappy parents in a dysfunctional household. After reading several sources, I’ve formed a somewhat new outlook on the poem and what it means not only to we the readers, but also to Hayden the poet. One of the aforementioned sources used was Ann M. Gallagher’s â€Å"Hayden’s ‘Those Winter Sundays’† in which Gallagher basically provides an objective explication of the poem. She picks apart the poem’s main characteristics, and manages to understand something that I as an explicator had not: that Hayden obviously came from an unhappy childhood. Gallagher expands on that topic without ever mentioning any research she had done on Hayden’s biography, but solely on evidence from the text itself. Another of the texts used was Pontheolla Williams’ book Robert Hayden: A Critical Analysis of His Poetry. In this book, Williams spends most of the first few chapters delving into Hayden’s biography and where he grew up. Hayden was raised in Detroit with his adoptive parents, William and Sue Hayden; however, he still frequently visited his biological mother, Ruth Sheffy, in New York, and his biological father in Indiana (3-4). In this book, Williams connects how the difficulties of growing up with two sets of parents contributed to â€Å"Those Winter Sundays.† My final source was Phillip M. Richards’ article, â€Å"Robert Hayden (1913-1980): An Appreciation† from the journal, The Massachusetts Review. This source focuses more on Hayden’s intellectual journey such as where he went to college, which scholars influenced him, and how this was portrayed in his poetry. Richards reveals that Hayden was privileged to attend college with the â€Å"cream-of-the-crop of the Southern black college world,† and that this greatly influenced his poetry (602). Each source brought new information to my attention, and I found all of that information essential to further understand the poem itself. For example, Williams’ book revealed a whole background analysis on Hayden that without knowing, one might neglect to connect â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† with Hayden’s actual life. Hayden’s adoptive parents’ marriage was not a particular happy one, and so Hayden’s description in the poem of â€Å"the chronic angers of that house† which he grew up in becomes more than just the squeaks and groans of an old house, as I first contemplated in my explication (9). After reading Williams’ book excerpt, I saw a new aspect of the poem, understanding the tension between Hayden and his adoptive father who was â€Å"[dissatisfied] with his uncertain status as an adoptive parent and the fact that he and Mrs. Hayden did not get along very well† (4-5). Had I not known this, my understanding of the poem would have been limited. Likewise, in Phillip Richards’ article, new information about Hayden’s intellectual past was made evident and gave me a new perspective on how that played into Hayden’s work. When Richards states that â€Å"Hayden has been so influential a poet because he developed such a suggestive model of the history poem, a poem that searches the personal or public past for significant truth that the poet might present to his audience,† this pattern is brought to attention in â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† (611). Hayden is reflecting on the history of his childhood, finding the truth behind his father’s affection and ultimately, their relationship. This pattern was evident not only in Hayden’s work, but also in that of his intellectual colleagues’ which helped to shape his style. Had I not read this source, I would not have made the connection between â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† and Hayden’s intellectual journey. Finally, Ann M. Gallagher’s article was a perfect example of what an objective explication should look like. Until reading this article, I didn’t really know the extent of what was expected in an explication. Gallagher draws information solely from the text itself that my own was definitely lacking. For example, Gallagher brings attention to the seemingly unhappy marriage between the Haydens when she states that â€Å"one slowly becomes aware that it is not only the child who does not thank the hardworking father. ‘No one ever’ did†¦where, for example, is the woman of the house? Why is there no one to minister in love or duty†¦?† (246). In one statement, Gallagher has managed to open an entirely other facet of Hayden’s motivation. Gallagher’s explication changed my understanding of not only the poem, but of what a thorough explication entails. Additional sources are not only helpful when writing a paper, they are essential. Not because one’s own ideas are not good enough, but because to enhance and expand upon those original ideas, research must be done. I would never have known Hayden’s family background had I not researched it, and I would have been completely ignorant of that side of â€Å"Those Winter Sundays.† Likewise with his intellectual background, as well as the evidence from the text itself; had I not come upon others’ opinions and revelations, I would not have been able to make my own. While it is, of course, inexcusable to copy another’s work, it is conducive to use that work to further enhance your own ideas.