Comparing My Father's Hats And Those Winter Sundays
710 Words3 Pages
In the poems “My Father’s Hats” by Mark Irwin, and “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, both poets reminisce on their feelings toward their fathers specifically on Sunday mornings during their childhoods. The poets’ divergent sentence and stanza structure, and word choice, convey the sincere love and appreciation they now possess for fathers they no longer have.
The poets’ use of the appearance of their lines and stanzas shows the progression of the affection they each had toward their fathers. On one hand, Irwin’s poem consists of only one stanza made up of a lone sentence. For the poet, the single sentence is almost a representation of his stream of consciousness. He seemingly writes to express his exact emotions without an edit, censor,…show more content… Irwin uses words to show the loving atmosphere he experienced as a child, and allow the reader to transport themselves to the same environment he imagined himself in when he would touch the “soft crowns” (5) on his father’s hats. He describes “hymning” (6) winds and “lingering” (9) scents to engage the reader, giving them an opportunity to feel present in the loving place the poet is so fond of. He also uses words such as “loved” (9) to give an impression of the adoration he felt in his childhood and the reason(s) why he still as so much love for a father who is now in a “fabulous / sleep” (16-17). Moreover, the poet’s words induce a nostalgic tone, making it easier for readers to feel as if they were the ones “being / held” (12-13), and smelling “godsome / air” (15-16). Hayden however, uses cacophonous words such as “cracked” (3), “ached” (3), and “chronic angers” (9) in his poem to demonstrate his presumptuous and cold feeling of unhappiness and discomfort. The poet’s use of words such as “austere and lonely” (14) to describe love connects to his newfound appreciation for his father. The reader gets a sense of how much his father sacrificed, how little he got in return, and why Hayden now regrets his previous harsh treatment of the man that had done so much for him as a child. Hayden also describes love as having “offices” (14), a metaphor showing the strength and patience required of unconditional love, of manual labor, and of the official role of being a father. The poet’s choice of "offices" as the poem's last word is effective in its denotative and connotative expression of tasks unquestioningly performed without expectation of gratitude or