Duty is a word defined in several ways by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It is used to denote “a moral or legal obligation; the service required under specified conditions; and the obligatory tasks, services or functions that arise from each person’s position.” It is a word used to talk about fulfilling obligations to others in one way or another. In the poems “These Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden; “Dulce et decorum est” by Wilfred Owen; and “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, duty to family, to a nation and to ancestors will be discussed as well as its effects on the characters in the poems. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden begins his remembrance of his father on a winter Sunday, a day of rest for most workers in the era when this poem was written. In the first stanza, he shows his father, even on his day off, rising from a warm bed, dressing "in the blue-black cold." The man gets up early so he can warm up his family's home before they start getting busy for the day. Mr. Hayden helps the reader see his father: a man who works with outstretched hands in the cold all week, "cracked hands that ached from weekday work" to provide for his family. The man can be seen moving quietly around the house, lighting the fire as he prepares for the day without a grunt. As a parent, duty calls at all hours of the day and night. Tasks are accomplished “behind the scenes,” such as lighting a warm fire or heading out for a day of hard work where hands are “cracked” and “sore from working during the week.” Bringing home a paycheck, providing food and shelter are all tasks that parents do every day, but their children don't particularly notice them until there is a problem. M...... middle of paper ......es with a price and it is truly a service rendered to others.Works Cited “duty”. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online, October 29, 2008 http://www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/dutyHayden, Robert. “These winter Sundays”. 1966. Literature. Reading fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Avenue of the Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 764.Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce et Decorum Est”. 1963. Literature. Reading fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Avenue of the Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1166. Browning, Robert. “My last duchess”. 1842. Literature. Reading fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Avenue of the Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 781, 782. Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. 1st ED. 10 East 53rd Street, New York: Harper-Collins, 2003. 91.