Written in 1966 and 1987 respectively, both Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and David Wagoner's "My Father's Garden" are two poems which pay special tribute to the speakers' fathers. Even though the poetic tones and family settings are different, however, the fathers in both poems are, in fact, very much alike. They appear to be conservative, in that they do not communicate with their sons through words: they do not to tell their sons directly that they love them. The sons therefore, never realize that their fathers subtly express their austere and lonely love through simple acts, and this significant connection ties the two poems together inextricably.
             Hayden and Wagoner's speakers reveal that reflections on their past can bring about complex memories and emotions. The speakers, now grown ups, try to recollect their childhood with a mature sense that they did not have when they were children. They both describe their fathers as hard workers and powerful men, doing what they could to provide what was best for their families. Hayden's speaker remembers the times when his father rose early every morning before everyone else, and he was the only one who built the fire in preparation for his sleeping children, so that they would not feel cold when they were getting out of their beds. In a similar way, Wagoner's speaker reminisces about "the flowers" his father picked for him everyday when he passed through his "garden" to his workplace, regardless of how tired-out and wearied he was from working in the hot steel mills, showing his skills and care for his family.
             "Those Winter Sundays" is a poem which appeals to difference senses, including sense of sight, smell, touch, and hearing. The speaker vividly portrays his father's hands: "then with cracked hands that ached/ from labor in the weekday weather..." (3-4), to a degree that readers can actually see a...