The Depth of Diction in Richard Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays

When reading a poem it is important to understand that the chosen diction possesses more depth beyond what is literally meant. Information hidden beneath metaphorical verses serves to not only give insight into the writers thinking process, but also to communicate with readers. Richard Hayden’s, Those Winter Sundays, serves as a poetic narrative describing the actions taken by a father to ensure his family’s well- being. Hayden’s modern sonnet generates multiple concepts of love, sacrifice and regret which assist the reader in understanding the limitless capacity of someone’s devotion and the recipients of this affection lack of gratitude. The title of any given work of literature is always significant to the authors meaning and intent of the work. Hayden meticulously inserts an emotional symbolism in the title of the poem which already opens the readers eyes to the incoming melodramatic nostalgic mood of the poem. Reading the title as a whole, one will a ssume that because the words are in past tense form, the work will have a reminiscent feel to it. Nevertheless, when the words are broken down and analyzed individually, more information about its meaning can be derived. Firstly, the word â€Å"those† from the title serves a dual purpose. On one level, â€Å"those† illustrates distance which will possibly allude to the speakers distance with his father during childhood. Secondly, being that the word is pluralized, the use of those in the title also suggests something that is