t the cold. The splintering and breaking are the sounds of the logs being burnt and, as the son finds later, the cold dying.Flashback is used to show the true reason behind the fathers acts and the sons subsequent comprehension of his fathers true feelings. driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of loves austere and lonely offices? (lines 2-5, stanza 3). The son realizes here that his father did the things that he had always simply thought of as done. He looks back and sees how much his father must have done for him without being acknowledged. Throughout the poem, Hayden uses the imagery and other forms of figurative language as well as flashback techniques and a consistent setting to paint a picture for the reader about the relationship between the father and son. He describes how the father shows his affection for his son and how the son takes that in. At the end of the poem, the son contemplates his fathers motives and finds the true emotion behind the fathers actions. ...
