"Those Winter Sundays"-Robert Hayden

"What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" (Hayden, 782)

     This final line of Robert Hayden's poem Those Winter Sundays suggests regret on the speakers behalf.  The rest of a poem is a description of the actions of a father and his child's actions on cold Sunday mornings.  The father fought the cold air.  He would even wait to wake his child up until the air had warmed.  All of this, he did without gratification.  The child's treatment of his father paralleled the weather conditions outside: cold.  The end of the poem shows that the child was never able to thank his father.  The now-grown child's understanding of how the different ways in which love could be defined developed too late.  He did not know that keeping his son warm was the father's outward manifestation of love for his son.  Now that he has grasped that love has more than one way of presenting itself, the child regrets never outwardly expressing his love for the father. 

"Edward"-Anonymous

    Through the refrain of Edward, the reader discovers a conversation between a mother and a son.  In this conversation, the son commits several grievances.  One of which is lying.  In the beginning, he lies to his mother about why there is blood on his sword.  After this, his second grievance is made known: he has killed his father.  While this was shocking enough to serve as the sole climax to the poem, another high point is presented.  Edward claims he is leaving and is leaving his family, house, and ultimately his life behind.  
    One point of confusion I found in this poem is when Edward claims "the curse of hell from me shall ye bear, Mother, Mother" (Anonymous, 978)  This suggests Edward is angry with his mother for some reason.  The resolution to my confusion may not be explicitly defined as much of the poem's message is implicit.