What does the Blueblack cold mean?
Then the speaker tells us just how early his father wakes; it’s “blueblack” outside. Which means it’s before sunrise. And it’s super cold out. Even the word itself feels cold. When we hear “blueblack,” we feel like were being thwacked in the face by a cold wind.
What does cold splintering breaking mean?
The poet uses metaphors to help the reader visualize the cold: I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. His most important metaphor refers to the people inside the house: And slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house.
What does indifferently mean in those winter Sundays?
In this line, we learn that he he speaks “indifferently” to his good ol’ dad. We could even say that he’s “cold” to his dad—cold as an icy winter morning. The speaker is acting like the weather to his poor ol’ dad. Why isn’t he warmer to dear daddy? It probably has something to do with that fear from line 9.
What is personification in those winter Sundays?
First, we can interpret them as referring to the people in the house (the speaker’s family) being angry. The other option is to think of the house itself as being angry. If that’s the case, then Hayden’s giving us a little dose of personification, because he’s saying the house has human feelings.
What’s a blue black?
For example, “blue-black” is a term used primarily by African Americans to describe a skin tone found among dark-skinned people on the African continent.
What does the phrase Sundays too mean?
The simple phrase “Sundays too” implies two things. First, it implies that the father’s actions took place on Sundays as well as on every other day of the week. In the rest of the stanza, the poet describes his father’s actions. He tells us that after awakening early, his father would get dressed and build a fire.
What type of poetry is Robert Hayden known for?
Though Hayden wrote in formal poetic forms, his range of voices and techniques gave his work a rich variety. “Hayden,” Robert G. O’Meally wrote in the Washington Post Book World, “is a poet of many voices, using varieties of ironic black folk speech, and a spare, ebullient poetic diction, to grip and chill his readers.
Why does the speaker speak indifferently to his father?
As a child, he was more focused on the “chronic angers” in the house, suggesting that his father had a hard life. As a child, the speaker would speak to his father “indifferently,” more attuned to what was wrong with his family’s life than the daily sacrifices his father made for him.
What does Speaking indifferently mean?
indifferently adverb (WITHOUT INTEREST) in a way that shows you are not thinking about or interested in someone or something: She shrugged indifferently.
What figurative language is used in the poem Those Winter Sundays?
Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. For example, “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breking.” Here, the poet compares cold with a solid object that can splinter and break.
How do imagery metaphors and similes contribute to the meaning of Those Winter Sundays?
Imagery, metaphors, and similes contribute to the meaning of “Those Winter Sundays” by making the emotions of the poem palpable to the reader. Robert Hayden’s use of these devices enhances the poem’s emotional message that love does not always look the way we might expect.