English Literature

Art imitates life, so it has been said time and again but if the concept of mimesis is taken into consideration, art is simply a second rate attempt to accurately imitate life.  On this same premise, but from the point of view of a different philosopher, art can also be a hype-realistic imitation of life  still on the basis of the concept of mimesis.  If these are considered, ven literature, being art, reflects, although very saliently, the harsh realities of life.  From a readers point of view, literature or poetry can just be poetry, but if mimesis is considered, each poem is actually significant human experience in capsule form.  In Haydens poem, Those Winter Sundays this very concept is well illustrated.  Those Winter Sundays is a poem that, in between the complexities of its literary form, hides emotions and suggestions of domestic violence and the deeper human phenomenon of misunderstood affection between an offspring and a father.

To understand how literature does this, it is first important to consider why poetry is complex.  The poem, Those Winter Sundays is written in the contemporary free verse tradition.  Many contemporary scholars of literature claim that the free verse form of poetry is easier to write compared to the bound verse.  However, with the absence of complex form features like rhyme and meter, the free verse needs to compensate for these losses, and the only way for it to compensate is to utilize figures of speech on a more complex level, hence, making a free verse poem more difficult to compose.  This is not the only reason for the complexity in poetry  the process of writing poetry is in itself very difficult.  Many things have to be taken into consideration, foremost of which is the accuracy of word choices.  A poet has to be able to express abstract emotions in poetry, and present ideas with brevity as primary concern.  This means that words have to be chosen very carefully to accurately suggest and illustrate the ideas, emotions, and significant human experiences tackled in a single piece of poetry.  Perhaps, with all the considerations and conventions in poetry, one might surmise that lifes realities will not find a place in this art form  wrong  in fact, poetry thrives on lifes harsh realities, just like Haydens poem much more, domestic violence and misunderstood affection.

Domestic violence is a perennial problem of many households in the United States.  It is estimated that a domestic violence act occurs every 15 seconds somewhere in the United States.  Almost two of every three of these females are attacked by a relative or person known to them and children are involved in 60 percent of domestic violence cases.  (HHS)   My own neighbour is a victim of domestic violence, as I often ser her being violently abused by her husband through the second floor window of their house.  She had reported this abuse many times to the authorities, but in the end, she still comes crawling back to her husband without filing a case.  This problem is so perennial that it has made its way even into lines of Haydens poetry, where he writes, Id wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. (7) and I would rise and dress,  Fearing the chronic angers of that house,. (9-10)  These lines, with the use of the words splintering and breaking give a physical existence to the chronic angers mentioned to be in the house.  Therefore, a long standing domestic hatred manifests itself in coldness or indifference that builds up and is able to cause splintering and breaking whether of house fixtures, or bones.  In the same poem, we also find indications that the voice has had some sort of fear for the subject of the poem who is the father.  This is clear in the lines, When the rooms were warm, hed call,  And slowly I would rise and dress,  Fearing the chronic angers (8-10)  Here, I see the voice as being one who fears his father, and is quite cautious with his movements when his father is around  quite like myself, because my father is a bit strict with us, and I always take extra caution when doing things, especially in his presence.  Although my father is not violent or abusive, but it still pays to keep him from getting angry. 
   
Other than just hints of domestic violence in this poem, we also have the son misunderstanding the affection of the father.  However, with this poem, most likely being written after the fathers death, as it is implied by the consistent use of the past tense, as in the lines, No one ever thanked him (6) and Who had driven out the cold  And polished my good shoes as well., (11-12) the voice expresses how heshe misunderstood the father who is the subject of the poem with the final line which says, What did I know, what did I know  Of loves austere and lonely offices (13-14), implying that despite the labors of the father as suggested with the first few lines where the father has to work on Sundays, and even in the biting cold, to bring the warmth in, (1-4) and where the father has to take care of the needs of the voice of the poem (11-12), his efforts are taken for granted.  I see myself in these lines, because, often, I also misunderstood the strict attitude of my father for something less than love, and also very often, instead of being happy with his concern, I find it annoying and I hate him for it  perhaps, like Hayden, until I am a father myself, I will never understand loves austere and lonely offices.
   
This beautiful poem of Hayden is illustrative of how significant human experience forms the basis of art, and in art, despite the complexities that go into the creation, these emotions and significant human experiences are highlighted.  In the case of Haydens poem, we can clearly see how domestic violence and misunderstood affection takes the center stage to filter through the complexities involved in writing and even reading literature.