Poets and their fathers“Those winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, “My father as a guitar” by Martin Espada and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney are three poems that they look at the authors' past and exhume the memories of their fathers. The poems contain similar conflicts, settings, and themes that are essential in helping the reader understand the sincere feelings the authors have for their fathers. Since the authors of the three poems are all living the pulse of their lives in 1900, their biography will be similar and it will be easier to connect with each other. “Those Winter Sundays” tells of Robert Hayden's father and the cold mornings his father endures to keep his family warm in the winters. In “Digging” Heaney sits by the window and watches his father do hard manual labor, which took a toll on his body. In "My Father as a Guitar" Espada goes to the doctor's office with his father and is sitting in the office with his father when the doctor tells him that he needs to take painkillers and stop working because his body is getting older and weaker. The authors of the poems all look at their fathers the same way; they look at them with a lot of respect and gratitude. All three poems tell of the hard work fathers have to do to keep the family fed and clothed. “The landowner, here a symbol of all the major social institutions that hold authority over the working class” (Constantakis.) Espada's father is aging and his health is deteriorating rapidly but his ability to stop working is not in his hands, “I can't, the landlord won't let me” (774.) “He is separated from his homeland and his life in the United States is far from welcoming” (Constantakis.) Espada's grandmother dies in Puerto Rico and the family learns this with a letter... half of the sheet... r'.” Poetry for students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. vol. 43 Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 30, 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?>.Persoon, James, and Robert R. Watson. "'Excavation'." The Facts on File, a companion to British poetry, 1900 to the present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literature. File Web Facts, Inc.. April 23, 2014. Shingavi, Snehal. “Espada, Martin.” Bloom's literature. File, Inc. Web Facts. March 30, 2014.Stade, George and Karen Karbiener. "Heaney Seamus." Bloom's literature. File, Inc. Web Facts. March 30. 2014.