Those Winter Sundays Essay Example for Free

Those Winter Sundays EssayUpon first reading the poesy Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, I was an object glass reader who assumed Hayden was aspecting back with nostalgia at his lost childhood. Without researching the verse, as well as Hayden himself, I had no way of knowing his background as an adopted child to unhappy mentions in a dysfunctional household. After reading s eeral sources, Ive formed a somewhat new medical prognosis on the poem and what it means non only to we the readers, but also to Hayden the poet. One of the aforementioned sources utilise was Ann M. Gall(a)aghers Haydens Those Winter Sundays in which Gallagher basically provides an objective explication of the poem. She picks apart the poems chief(prenominal) 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 some(prenominal) research she had done on Hay dens biography, but completely on evidence from the text itself. other 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 Haydens biography and where he grew up. Hayden was raised in Detroit with his foster 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 Those Winter Sundays.My final source was Phillip M. Richards article, Robert Hayden (1913-1980) An Appreciation from the journal, The Massachusetts Review. This source focuses more on Haydens mind 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 cream-of-the-crop of the Confederate black college world, and that this greatly influenced his poetry (602).Each source brought new information to my solicitude, and I found all of that information essential to further understand the poem itself. For example, Williams book revealed a whole background summary on Hayden that without knowing, one might neglect to connect Those Winter Sundays with Haydens actual life. Haydens adoptive parents marriage was not a particular happy one, and so Haydens description in the poem of 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 candidate of the poem, spirit the tension amongst Hayden and his adoptive father who was 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 cognise this, my understanding of the poem would put one over been limited.Likewise, in Phillip Richards article, new information about Haydens intellectual late(prenominal) was made evident and gave me a new perspective on how that played into Haydens work. When Richards states that Hayden has been so prestigious 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 Those Winter Sundays (611). Hayden is reflecting on the history of his childhood, finding the truth behind his fathers esteem and ultimately, their relationship. This pattern was evident not only in Haydens 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 Those Winter Sundays and Haydens intellectual journey.Finally, Ann M. Gallaghers article was a perfect example of what an objective explication should look like. Until reading this article, I didnt 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 one soft becomes aware that it is not only the child who does not thank the hardworking father. No one ever didwhere, 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 Haydens motivation. Gallaghers explication changed my understanding of not only the poem, but of what a thorough explication entails.Additional sources are not only ministrant when writing a paper, they are essential. Not because ones own ideas are not proficient enough, but because to enhance and expand upon those original ideas, research must be done. I would never have known Haydens family background had I not researched it, and I would have been completely ignorant of that berth of 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 others work, it is conducive to use that work to further enhance your own ideas.