Those Winter Sundays

By: Robert Hayden

In this very brief poem, the narrator describes his father.  He worked outside in the harsh conditions of winter.  He had "cracked hands that ached from labor" because of this (781).  The narrator mentions that his father was never thanked for his work.  "No one ever thanked him" (781).  He worked so hard to get the rooms of their house warm.  In addition, he would polish the narrator's good shoes.  The narrator's father seems like a stiff, quiet man.  It seems like he was kind of reserved, in addition to his strong work ethic.  I think that maybe the father was bitter about the fact that his hard work basically went unnoticed.  The narrator realizes that he took his father's determination to create a better life for granted.