While two works can seem completely different in tone, diction, length, and subject, there is a chance that they are actually very similar in theme. Two poems "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden and "forgiving my father" by Lucille Clifton actually share many elements. Obviously they are both about their family, but by digging past simple subject commonalities, it is evident that the overall theme of the relationships that children and parents share when put in difficult situations can be seen throughout both works. This theme is shown through Robert Hayden s reflection on the efforts of his father and how he fails to recognize his hard work, and Lucille Clifton's poem during which she finally comes to terms with her father's terrible treatment. Both authors express their feeling about the situation differently. In the end, it all comes down to the relationships that they shared.

Robert Hayden was a prominent African American writer that grew up in a "poor neighborhood in Detroit called Paradise Valley" during early 1900's" ("Robert"). Here he spent his time being shuttled between the houses of his foster parents and single father that often did not have the money to support him. In the poem "Those Winter Sundays", he explores the relationship he shared with his father, realizing that he never showed him thanks for the effort he showed. While many children come to this realization at some point in their lives, the difference between children in the 2010's and children in the 1920's is how hard their parents worked. Hayden's father worked in the labor yards throughout the week, and it is his care even on Sundays that Robert Hayden reflects on in the poem. During this time, it was necessary during the winter that someone wakes up early "drive out the cold"(Hayden 327) by setting a fire and warming the house. Hayden recalls that "Sundays too [his] father got up early"(327) and Hayden would lie in bed until his father called to let them know that "the rooms were warm". Only then would Hayden "slowly rise and dress"(327) for the day. This sounds like a normal thing for parents to do, it is their responsibility to care for the children after all. At the beginning of the first stanza Hayden writes, "no one ever thanked him"(327). No one thanked his father for the work he did during the week that left his fingers cracked and aching, or for him always waking up before anyone else to set the flame that warmed the entire house. Hayden thinks about all his father did for the family, including polishing his shoes, however he "spoke indifferently to him"(327) because his father could not always keep his children due to lack of funds. As a child, Robert Hayden did not experience the sort of childhood that most dream of, being bounced around from house to house, and as many others would, he blames his father for this. Later in his life, Hayden realizes the entity of his father's hard work, and that he never thanked him for it. Hayden's relationship was strained due to the fact that his father couldn't ever completely care for him, and it was until later that he later realizes how hard he tried. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Lucille Clifton's father never tried that hard, and after their untimely death; she realizes that it may not have been entirely his fault.  

In "forgiving my father" by Lucille Clifton, the author reprimands her father for his treatment of her mother, and the lack of funds that he left behind. Lucille Clifton was also an African American poet that grew up with her mother and father while they fought through poverty. The poem was written during the late 1980's when "roughly 35% of African Americans were considered to be in poverty"(United) as recorded by the government census. Unfortunately, Clifton and her family were definitely included in that percentage during her childhood. After Clifton's parent's untimely death, she is left with her father's agglomeration of debt and the haunting memory of him begging for money when payday came. As the poem begins, Clifton comes off angry and censorious when talking about her father. She thinks that he is an "old liar", "old lecher", "old prisoner", and an "old dead man"(Clifton 330). Obviously, none of these are positive attributes. She blames her father for their family debt and now that he is dead, remembers him as a ghost that always needed more time to pay the bills. Clifton wishes that he could have paid the debt, and spoiled her mother like a good husband should. In the second stanza, Clifton begins to realize that her father's treatment was not entirely his fault. He was "the only son of a needy father... [he] gave her all that [he] had"(330). She realizes that her father has nothing left to give. He has already given everyone everything that he owns. By the end of the third stanza, Clifton lets go of being upset at her father because no amount of complaining is going to bring them back. She asks herself "what am I doing here collecting? you lie side by side in debtors boxes and no accounting will open them up" (330). Meaning that she can sit and complain and curse her father's name as much as she wants. Unfortunately though at the end of the day, her parents are dead in their caskets and they left behind this great debt, no amount of complaining was going to change that. 

It is evident that both these works contain a complex family relationship that is generated by the effects of low financial status. But the poets do not share their struggles in the same sentiment. They write in two very different voices in order to help the reader understand their point. Robert Hayden writes in a regretful voice, which helps readers realize the kind of experience he had as a child and the discoveries he made while writing it. Hayden seems to feel copious of regret in the way that he treated his father. As stated before, his childhood was rough, but in reality his father did everything he could for his children, unfortunately at the end of the day, it was not enough and he did not have enough money to keep them. Lucille Clifton's family also shared a complete lack of funds, but she expressed her feelings in a bitter manner. Clifton uses simple and direct language to clue the reader into the resentment she holds towards her father. Finally, she comes to recognize that her harshness will pay the debt she owes and it is best to just forgive rather than hold a grudge. So while they chose to express their feelings differently, they both wrote about the complex relationships that they shared.

It was not until later in life that both authors realized the reasons behind their father's actions, but it is better late than never. Despite their difference in diction and language, Robert Hayden and Lucille Clifton both wrote about the friction felt between parents and children when put in difficult situations. Several similarities exist between these two works, but the overall theme truly ties them together. This goes to show that no matter how different two poems may seem, there almost always a similarity between the two. 
