WELCOMEA POEM

FATHER TO SON

TOPICSABOUT THE AUTHORPOEMSUMMARY / ANALYSIS OF POEMWORD MEANINGS OF POEMPOINTS TO REMEMBERQUESTIONS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR• The British poet Elizabeth Jennings has

published more than 20 books of poetry since the 1950s. She writes short,

meditative lyrics that are known for their simplicity, control, and range of feeling.

These qualities have linked Jennings to a group of poets, usually referred to as The Movement, who were writing in England

during the 1940s and 1950s. The members of this group, poets like Kingsley Amis,

Thom Gunn, Philip Larkin, and John Wain, never consciously formed a movement,

but their poetry reveals a shared love for simplicity and an acceptance of regular

meter and rhyme.

FATHER TO SON

I do not understand this childThough we have lived together

nowIn the same house for years. I

knowNothing of him, so try to build

Up a relationship from howHe was when small. Yet have I

killed

The seed I spent or sown it where

The land is his and none of mine?

We speak like strangers, there's no sign

Of understanding in the air.This child is built to my design

Yet what he loves I cannot share.

Silence surrounds us. I would haveHim prodigal, returning to

His father's house, the home he knew,

Rather than see him make and move

His world. I would forgive him too,Shaping from sorrow a new love.

Father and son, we both must liveOn the same globe and the same

land.He speaks: I cannot understandMyself, why anger grows from

grief.We each put out an empty hand,

Longing for something to forgive. 

SUMMARY OF THE POEMThe poem revolves around a conflict between father and son who are in a serious communication gap. Though they live in the same house/globe,

they are like strangers to each other. The father broods over this and this

forms the center of the poem.

He introspects with an agrarian imagery where he feels he has sown his seed in a

stranger’s land that forbids him from owning it. He admits that he cannot

share what his son loves and expects him to come back home like the

Prodigal/lost son in the parable of Jesus in the Bible. He is ready to forgive him and develop a new love from sorrow. But his son feels anger growing out of sorrow and admits the vain efforts of

both in understanding each other.

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM• The theme of the poem is the generation gap which

occurs when the communication link between two generations breaks due to a mutual lack of understanding, tolerance and acceptance. Compare and contrast this poem with the poem 'Childhood'. That poem was the child's perspective and struggle to understand himself. This poem is the father's inability to come to terms with the young adult who has replaced the father's 'little boy'.

SOME QUESTIONS ???????

Q.1. Read the lines given below and answer the following questions:-        Yet have I killed        The seed I spent or sown it where        The land is his and none of mine?        We speak like strangers, there's no sign        Of understanding in the air.(a)    Who is ‘I’ in these lines? Whom is he talking about?(b)   Explain the meaning of the first sentence(c)    What is the poet’s mood in these lines? This child is built to my design         Yet what he loves I cannot share,        Silence surrounds us.(a)    What is the meaning of the first line?(b)   What kind of relationship exists between the father and son?(c)    Find two expressions which show the desolation the father feels?

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EclipseCrossword.com

Across5. the use of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words that are close together6. Longing

Down1. pained2. extravagant3. a short story that teaches a moral lesson4. something that refers to another person or subject in an indirect way

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THANK

YOUCREATED BY-SAMSHAD ALI SUBMITTED TO Mrs. KAMAL