Spring Break Homework: Poetry

Poem: Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.
I chose this prompt because the majority of the other prompts were specific to a particular poem. This poem that I chose is quite short and specific as well, and Robert Hayden's diction is what helped the reader understand the mood and meaning.

When we're young we don't appreciate what our parents voluntarily do for us, but as we grow older we become more grateful for the simple things in life. In Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, Hayden's diction plays an essential role in helping the reader comprehend the poem and it's purpose. Hayden's use of language describes the scene in a way for the reader to comprehend the atmosphere of what is going on and to then better understand the mood of the entirety of the poem and the meaning of it all.
The poem starts out with the author describing what he woke up to every Sunday morning. The father too got up early on Sundays...in the blueblack cold...with cracked hands that ached. After these few lines, one can see that the father worked hard every day of the week in the cold winter weather. "No one ever thanked him." The boy never thought anything of it...until he later looked back on his life.
Through the majority of the poem, Hayden's language gave a mood of "normalness," as if what the father did was not a big deal. In the last few lines however, there's a shift. The reader sees that now grown up, looking back at "those winter Sundays," the man understands that what his father did for his family was the way he expressed his love. The father's love was quite yet powerful. That love is what drove him to make sacrifices for his family. After reading the poem, Hayden's language puts the mood of regret and gratefulness inside a reader's head.  It wasn't that he purposely took advantage of what his father did for him, he just never recognized that it was his way of showing his love for his family. No one ever thanked the father, but looking back the speaker is truly grateful for him. 
The poem isn't very lengthy, but it didn't need to be for one to understand its meaning. The lines are short but powerful. The language is simple yet descriptive. There didn't need to be 20 stanzas for the reader to see that the boy didn't recognize all that his father did for him, until later. Hayden made it clear that simple gestures are ways that one can express their love for another person. The father in the poem warmed up the house for his family, after working immensely hard all week, and still never expected a thank you. He didn't need a thank you. He continued to do what seemed like a small gesture because he wanted to show his love for his family. The father would suffer to keep his family warm.