Page 1 of 26 Poetry
1-Those winter Sundays:
• “Winter"-Particularly difficult to do work as the body is cold.
• “Sundays”-Usually a day of rest, but this father worked on this day too
• Tone- Very Harsh
Stanza 1
Sundays too my father got up early .1
And put clothes on in the blueblack cold, .2
Then with cracked hands that ached .3
From labor in the weekday weather made .4
Banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. .5
• Even on the day of rest the speakers father got up early, this is relevant
because Sunday is a day of rest, but he worked too on a Sunday.
• ‘blueblack cold’-Reference to the harsh tone the poem brings out and
emphasis that it’s dark and how cold it is.
• ‘cracked hands that ached’-Hard labour, work that he done.
• He made a fire to warm the house to keep his family warm.
• ‘no one ever thanked him’-this emphasises regret and guilt, includes the
speaker. They just let it go by without saying anything.
Stanza 2
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking .6
When the rooms were warm, he’d call, .7
And slowly I would rise and dress, .8
Fearing the chronic angers of that house, .9
• ‘the cold splintering, breaking.’-onomatopoeia, as the wood burns it creates
this sound. It also displays harshness.
• 8&9 display love and caringness
• 8-The speaker would wake up to a warm house, indicates somewhat being
lucky as he would only get up when it is warm.
• 9-chronic which means severe and ongoing, House filled with people fighting
all the time.
Stanza 3
Speaking indifferently to him, .10
Who had driven out the cold .11
And polished my good shoes as well. .12
What did I know, what did I know .13
Of love’s austere and lonely offices? .14
• ‘indifferently’-speak to our parents, without care. The speaker has a cold
indifferent attitude to a father that provides warmth. This shows that we can
be ungrateful and take our parents for granted.
• 12- His father done a lot for him, even though his hands were sore.
• 13-Repetition, to emphasise that the speaker was young and he didn’t know
about, how much his father cared and loved for him, in his own way.
• ‘of love’s austere’ His love wasn’t expressed in a gentle way.
• ‘and lonely offices’ He never got thanked. He done it out of his own.
• The speaker only focussed on the problems that happened in the house
instead of focussing on the good that his father has done.
, Page 2 of 26 Poetry
1-Those winter Sundays:
• “Winter"-Particularly difficult to do work as the body is cold.
• “Sundays”-Usually a day of rest, but this father worked on this day too
• Tone- Very Harsh
Stanza 1
Sundays too my father got up early .1
And put clothes on in the blueblack cold, .2
Then with cracked hands that ached .3
From labor in the weekday weather made .4
Banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. .5
• Even on the day of rest the speakers father got up early, this is relevant
because Sunday is a day of rest, but he worked too on a Sunday.
• ‘blueblack cold’-Reference to the harsh tone the poem brings out and
emphasis that it’s dark and how cold it is.
• ‘cracked hands that ached’-Hard labour, work that he done.
• He made a fire to warm the house to keep his family warm.
• ‘no one ever thanked him’-this emphasises regret and guilt, includes the
speaker. They just let it go by without saying anything.
Stanza 2
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking .6
When the rooms were warm, he’d call, .7
And slowly I would rise and dress, .8
Fearing the chronic angers of that house, .9
• ‘the cold splintering, breaking.’-onomatopoeia, as the wood burns it creates
this sound. It also displays harshness.
• 8&9 display love and caringness
• 8-The speaker would wake up to a warm house, indicates somewhat being
lucky as he would only get up when it is warm.
• 9-chronic which means severe and ongoing, House filled with people fighting
all the time.
Stanza 3
Speaking indifferently to him, .10
Who had driven out the cold .11
And polished my good shoes as well. .12
What did I know, what did I know .13
Of love’s austere and lonely offices? .14
• ‘indifferently’-speak to our parents, without care. The speaker has a cold
indifferent attitude to a father that provides warmth. This shows that we can
be ungrateful and take our parents for granted.
• 12- His father done a lot for him, even though his hands were sore.
• 13-Repetition, to emphasise that the speaker was young and he didn’t know
about, how much his father cared and loved for him, in his own way.
• ‘of love’s austere’ His love wasn’t expressed in a gentle way.
• ‘and lonely offices’ He never got thanked. He done it out of his own.
• The speaker only focussed on the problems that happened in the house
instead of focussing on the good that his father has done.
, Page 2 of 26 Poetry
