Hayden begins the poem by expressing how his foster father would generously warm the house every day, including Sunday, despite his “cracked” and “aching hands” (Howells p288). Hayden’s description of his foster father’s deep scars, forged by deep labor, intensify the painful and dismal tone of the poem. Hayden then reiterates the same dismal tone, saying that “no one ever thanked him” for warming the house, and we cannot help but imagine that one of the reasons for the “chronic angers of the house” is that he never received the thanks he deserved from anyone. We realize that the “chronic angers” between him and his foster father are extremely intricate, and we can visualize the true tension between them through diction like “splintering,” and “breaking,” which Hayden uses to describe the cold, and the way that he would “slowly… rise and dress” (Gallagher p245). The tension between Hayden and his foster father is so intense, as Ann Gallagher says, “the warmth of the fire does not penetrate” it (p245). Hayden then writes of how he speaks indifferently to his foster father, and at this point in the poem, the reader can see both Hayden’s diction, and his tone shift. Hayden is seemingly shameful of the “indifference” that he spoke to his foster father with, especially after considering the love that resides within a gesture as simple as “driving out the cold” (Howells p288-299). David Peck wrote in a journal article about the poem, the shift in the poem is a representation of Hayden’s emotional development from “what he knew then,” to “what he knows, possibly as a father, now” (p1-3). Based off of Hayden’s self-evaluation in the statement “… what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices,” it is quite convincing that he might now realize the “austere and lonely” demands of being a father, (Peck p1-3). The reader notices that Hayden, as a
Hayden begins the poem by expressing how his foster father would generously warm the house every day, including Sunday, despite his “cracked” and “aching hands” (Howells p288). Hayden’s description of his foster father’s deep scars, forged by deep labor, intensify the painful and dismal tone of the poem. Hayden then reiterates the same dismal tone, saying that “no one ever thanked him” for warming the house, and we cannot help but imagine that one of the reasons for the “chronic angers of the house” is that he never received the thanks he deserved from anyone. We realize that the “chronic angers” between him and his foster father are extremely intricate, and we can visualize the true tension between them through diction like “splintering,” and “breaking,” which Hayden uses to describe the cold, and the way that he would “slowly… rise and dress” (Gallagher p245). The tension between Hayden and his foster father is so intense, as Ann Gallagher says, “the warmth of the fire does not penetrate” it (p245). Hayden then writes of how he speaks indifferently to his foster father, and at this point in the poem, the reader can see both Hayden’s diction, and his tone shift. Hayden is seemingly shameful of the “indifference” that he spoke to his foster father with, especially after considering the love that resides within a gesture as simple as “driving out the cold” (Howells p288-299). David Peck wrote in a journal article about the poem, the shift in the poem is a representation of Hayden’s emotional development from “what he knew then,” to “what he knows, possibly as a father, now” (p1-3). Based off of Hayden’s self-evaluation in the statement “… what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices,” it is quite convincing that he might now realize the “austere and lonely” demands of being a father, (Peck p1-3). The reader notices that Hayden, as a