Those Winter Sundays

“Those Winter Sundays” is a lament for something lost that wasn’t appreciated in the moment. The speaker regretfully describes his father’s silent sacrifice and love. The regret and feeling of loss appear in the description of the scene and in the morose tone.

This lamentation starts with the title. The use of “Those” suggests this scene was a constant in the speaker’s childhood. He is not remembering a single Sunday morning; he is remembering his childhood as a whole, which he defines by two things: his father’s love and his own lack of appreciation for that love. The father shows love through action (building the fire, polishing shoes, working for the family), while lines like “[n]o one ever thanked him” (Line 5) and “I would rise and dress / fearing the chronic angers of that house // Speaking indifferently to him” (Lines 8-10), show the speaker's lack of appreciation.

The speaker regrets this treatment of his father. He admits his regret in the final stanza when he cries, “[w]hat did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (Lines 13-14). The repetition of “what did I know” illustrates the speaker’s pain.