Introduction
Those Winter Sundays," by Robert Hayden and bilingual bilingue by Rhina Espaillat address the past events as they appear in the memories of the authors. Notably, there are certain issues, which occur in our routine lives at our tender ages, which indeed have significant impacts in our memories even in future. Some occurrences should be kept as preserve for future reference as they indeed play significant roles in our lives. Ideally, it is quite important to compare and contract these two poems because this will give different and similar experiences that people have in their young age compared to those, which they have during their adult lives. Both poems feature significant poetic attributes necessary to communicate important messages to people in the society. Still, the poems feature different experiences, which influence the routine lives of people in distinct ways. In order to understand the diversity of the conditions under which different people live, it is important to consider various aspects of life as addressed by the poets in these poems. This paper addresses similarities with regard to thematic components of the poems with regard to different attributes of a poem that make the work appealing to readers.
Comparison
Both poems address the memories that the poets have regarding their childhood. Essentially, there is theme of love evident in both poems. “Those winter Sundays” addresses the theme of love as depicted by the father of the poet. The father used to wake up early in the morning during the winter Sundays of the times and light fires in the fireplaces in order to warm the house. Nevertheless, no body including the writer took to thank the father for his expression of love towards his family. Similarly, bilingual bilingue depicts the theme of love for culture and the family by the father in the family. The father wants the daughter to communicate in her native language in order to retain her cultural identity. The theme of love features in that the father has a love for his culture, which he wants, transferred to his children. The poet indicates, “English outside this door, Spanish inside,” he said, “y basta.” But who can divide” this clear indicates that the father values the identity of the daughter.
The two poems are short in length. They precisely address the messages of the poets conveniently and clearly. There is use of imagery in both poems. In Bilingual Billingue the poet notes, “That words might cut in two his daughter’s heart (el corazón) and lock the alien part.” This implies that words may have some significant impact in the life of the daughter. As such, the father does not directly indicate that English is not part of their culture, but he discourages the use of the English language when communicating with the people whom they share Spanish as a cultural aspect. Imagery appears in those winter Sundays as well, the narrator notes, “fearing the chronic angers of that house.’’ This is imagery in that the house can not indeed express anger but this refers to the dull atmosphere prevalent in the house due to the cold whether of the winter morning Sundays. Both poems therefore depict the competence of the poets at using imagery to communicate a significant message to the readers by likening it to some commonly known phenomena.
Both poems depict a serious tone. A loving tone also appears in each of these poems. Bilingual billingue depicts a serious tone in that the poet presents the father as serious in advocating that English should be spoken outside and Spanish inside. This clearly indicates that the father wants the daughter to use Spanish continually when speaking to people who speak the Spanish language, and only speak English with outsiders, those who probably do not comprehend Spanish. The serious tone clearly appears in this poem as the father develops fears that he and his daughter will develop some misunderstanding if she continually learns to speak English and ignores her original language. Serious tone is evident in “Those winter Sundays’’ in that the father took the duty of waking up early during the winter Sundays seriously and did not fail in any. The poet also indicates that he did not know why his father did all these things he did for the family only to realize later it was out of the deep love that the father had for the family. The atmospheres prevalent in the house as observed by the persona depicts a serious tone as he says that he feared the chronic angers of that house. This indicates seriousness prevalent during this condition of the morning Sundays.
Both poems address the heartless attitudes that the personas have towards their fathers during the times they refer to in their writing. The poet notes, “Speaking indifferently to him” the persona was indifferent to the father who was so considerate so that he took to warm the house early in the morning for the sake of the family. The speaker acknowledges of his ignorance when concluding as he wonders what he really knew about loves austere and lonely offices. The speaker in bilingual billingue shows a heartless attitude towards the father when she can no longer cares but becomes stubborn. As a result, while in bed, late in the night, she hoards secret syllable, reading until her tongue learned to run where her fathers stumbled. This clearly indicates that the poems depict the personas as being ignorant of the things that their fathers did in order to ensure they grew and developed in to socially competent people.
Both poems use rhyming as an aspect of poetic language. For instance, the speaker in bilingual billingue uses rhyme in the end of line 16 and 17. The ending words are when and pen. These depict rhyme as an attribute usable in poems. The speaker in “those winter Sundays’’ also uses rhyme in 8th and 9th lines the ending words are, dress and house which produce a similar sound. As such, this clearly indicates that both poems have a rhyming effect in their structure. As they have similar sounds at the end of adjacent lines. The rhyming sounds therefore present a significant similarity in usage of poetic styles. The rhyming effect creates a pattern in the lines that sounds musical in order to impress the reader and get him attracted to reading the poem.
Both poems use alliteration. In bilingual billingue, the speaker says, “the world, the word”. The sound “wo’’ follow in the tow words, world and world. This indicates the use of alliteration in the poem. Use of alliteration creates harmony in the poem so that the ideas addressed flow properly to communicate the intended message effectively. The speaker in “those winter Sundays also uses alliterations.’’ He notes in the eighth line, and slowly I would rise and dress. The ‘S’ sound at the end of the words rise and dress depict alliterations. This has the effect of creating rhythm in the poems so that there is a distinct pattern through which words flow. Notably, there are several similarities in both poems, which revolve around the characteristics of the personas and the use of poetic stylistic devices. The use of the stylistic devices is a clear indication of the competency of the poets in doing a through work that addresses significant issues prevalent in society.
Conclusion
Work cited
Espaillat, Rhina. Bilingual billingue. 1998. Retrieved from, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175878. (Accessed 15 November 2013).
Hayden, Robert. Those winter Sundays. 1966. Retrieved from, http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19217. (Accessed November 2013)
