Literary Essay

Literary Essay

Father and son relationships are different for everyone. In the poems “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden and “My Papas Waltz”, by Theodore Roethke the speaker shows the relationships with their father. In Hayden’s poem, the speaker and his fathers relationship is much more closed and shut out. In Roethke’s poem, the father and the sons relationship is more open and connected because the speaker shows their bonds.


Both poems show different relationships. In Hayden’s poem the speaker feels sorry for his dad. For example, in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states “Sundays too my father got up early and put on his clothes on in the blueblack cold then with cracked hands that ached for labor in the weekday weather made banked fire blaze.” This example describes his father a hard worker and that he never really takes a break. The speaker looks back to that  day and regrets how he never realized how hard his father worked. In the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the father and son relationship is loving and the poem how close they both are. For example, it states “We romped until the pans slid the kitchen shelf;”. This example shows that the son and the father are closer together, and more connected. The author demonstrate how they connected without taking, and showed their love for each other.  

An example that is similar in the two poems is they both have a special moment that explain the whole poem. For example in “Those Winter Sundays”, it states he'd call and slowly I would rise and dress”. This shows how he would listen to his father would get up early and work on a sunday.” In the poem “My Papas Waltz” it states “ Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt.” This example shows the father and sons connection and how that moment they would be even closer.



In conclusion, their are some similar and different ways in each of the poems that express the theme which is relationships. In the poems “ Those Winter Sundays”, The relationship between the father and the son is shown by regret and understanding but in the poem “My Papas Waltz”, the theme is shown by caring and loving. But there are different ways of showing love and feelings.