Ahh...the light!

In my opinion, the central purpose of the poem, "Those Winter Sundays," is to recognize the poet's father and all of the hard work he has endured throughout his lifetime. It seems as though when the poet was young, he never appreciated the labor and love his father displayed, so this is his tribute to his father as an adult. Throughout the poem, Robert Hayden's tone seems guilty. For example, in the line "No one ever thanked him" (line 5) Hayden reflects on his behavior and gratitude toward his father when he was a child, feeling ashamed at how he took his father's love for granted. Now, Hayden has the opportunity to recognize him and to thank him.

At first glance of the poems in this unit, I interpreted them better than poems in the past. They were easier to relate to, and I did not have as much trouble finding the meaning behind the symbols and figurative language. Also, working within the groups opened up my mind to other interpretations and showed me how poems can have more than one meaning. For example, "I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain," was interpreted in two different ways within my group, and both interpretations were determined valid. One way said that the author was being literal and describing an actual imagined funeral; the second way was interpreted as a swim meet. Furthermore, neither interpretation had contradicting qualities, so they were both in the cone of light.