Those Winter Sundays

There were parts of this poem that confused me and I really want to uncover the meaning of it. So beginning with the first stanza, the speaker describes with very good diction his father's work ethic. The "blueblack cold" and "cracked hands" really make the reader feel bad for this poor father who gets up tired every day to support his family and keep them warm. The last line of the stanza is "No one ever thanked him". After reading that stanza, I really felt sorry for this guy, and I was angry that no one every thanked him. Then the second stanza goes on to state that the child never wanted to get out of bad and even when the father called, he "slowly would rise and dress". At this point, I was really thinking that this kid was a brat. However, then the next line really stuck me, "fearing the chronic angers of that house". 

Why does the speaker fear the house? When we discussed this topic in our small groups today, most of the people brought up the point that the father could be abusive. This would make sense, especially with the first line of the third stanza which says, "Speaking indifferently to him". Nevertheless, I'm not so sure that the father was abusive. Why would the speaker regret how he treated his father if the father beat him? The line "angers of that house" make me think that the animosity has more to do with the house itself. Maybe it contained many unhappy memories of loneliness for the boy. There is no mention of a mother so that could be the root of it. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not exactly sure what the angers of the house are, but I have a few ideas.


This poem kind of makes me think of the song Haunted by Taylor Swift. One because I still feel like there is something scary or secretive about the house and the song's title relates to that. Also, the poem makes me think that maybe the boy had a falling out with his father and this song is about losing someone and regretting letting them go. The first line of the song "you and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time but I'd never thought I'd live to see it break" could be relevant to the relationship between the father and son saying that he always knew they didn't get along but now he regrets not saying enough to his father.