The speaker of this poem is looking back on his life, reflecting on his past behavior and his wrongful attitude for his father. He was ungrateful for everything his father did for him- "no one ever thanked him"- and he did not seem to realize that his father loved him deeply. His dad was a hardworking man- "with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather"- who provided for the family but had a hard time expressing his emotions, so the son took that to mean that his father did not care. The speaker now realizes his mistake in thinking that way- "what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices".
The tone is one of regret; the speaker now wishes he had thanked his father for all the things he had done for the family. The theme or purpose of the poem is most likely that we all need to be appreciative of what we have and thank the people we love for all they do before it is too late.
One thing I did not understand was the line "fearing the chronic angers of that house". Is the speaker referring to the blistering cold of the house? Or is he referring to some sort of anger issue that the father has?
Until Next Time,
Alysse
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