Universal Experiences
It was really important to Robert Hayden that he not be judged, or even interpreted, through the lens of his skin color. He didn’t want to be known as an African-American poet; he wanted to be known as an American poet. “Those Winter Sundays,” like many of Hayden’s poems, transcends race. The family is this poem could be any family anywhere—any family with chronic angers, that is.
If you want to check out more of Hayden’s poetry in this vein, check out Hayden's “Monet’s Water Lilies.” It’s all about the common human experiences of tragedy and war and art. Deep stuff comes in small, Hayden-wrapped packages, we guess.