Poem Father to Son Theme

Father to Son : Elizabeth Jennings

 

Poem Father to Son Theme 

The poem 'Father to Son' by Elizabeth Jennings highlights the theme of communication gap along with generation gap. The poem highlights the internal conflict of a father and a son who are poles apart from each other. Generation gap is nothing but a psychological and emotional gap which only creates misunderstanding. In this poem the Father-Son relationship has gone sour, as their individuality clashes. This poem is an urge for reunion.

 

Poem Father to Son Important Extracts 

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

 

I do not understand this child 

Though we have lived together now 

In the same house for years. I know 

Nothing of him, so try to build 

Up a relationship from how 

He was when small.

 
Q1. Who have lived in the same house? How long? 

Ans. The father and the son have lived in the same house for years. 

Q2. Why does the father say that he knows nothing of him? 

Ans. They live like strangers in the same house. Complete silence surrounds them when they are each other's presence. That's why he says that he knows nothing of his son. 

Q3. What kind of relationship does he want to build up? 

Ans. He wants to build up the same kind of relationship as he used to have when his son was a little child.

 

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

 

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.

 

Q1. What does the word 'seed' signify? 

Ans. The word 'seed' here refers to all the hard work the father had to do to bring up the child.

 

Q2. What 'land' does the speaker speak of? 

Ans. The child's mind is the land into which the father had tried to sow the seeds of his thoughts. 

Q3. Why do they speak like strangers? 

Ans. They speak like strangers because they have different ways of life and thoughts. 

Q3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

 

This child is built to my design 

Yet what he loves I cannot share. 

Silence surrounds us. 

I would have him 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.

 Q1. What kind of child had he desired to design? 

Ans. He had desired to design a child who shared his likes and dislikes. 

Q2. Why does the speaker say 'this child' not 'my child'? 

Ans. Because the child has nothing common with him.

 

Q3. Explain: 'Silence surrounds us'. 

Ans. There is no communication at all between the father and the son. There is complete silence when they are each other's presence.

 

Q4. What does the father want his son to do? 

Ans. He wants his son to come back to his father's home.

 

Q5. What is the father prepared to accept? 

Ans. He is prepared to accept his so with all his profligacy. 

Q6. What does the father not want his son to do? 

Ans. The father doesn't want his son to make a new world of his own and move into it.

 

Q7. What would the father do to shape a new love from sorrow? 

Ans. He would forgive his son for whatever sorrow he has given him. 

04. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: 

Father and son, we both must live 

On the same globe and the same land. 

He speaks: I cannot understand Myself, 

why anger grows from arief. 

We each put out an empty hand.

 

Q1. How does the poet feel when his relationship with his son comes under strain? 

Ans. The poet is keen to save the blood ties with his son. He wants the son to return to his old house.

 

Q2. What could be the cause for their distancing from each other? 

Ans. The cause of the growing gap between the dad and his son is lack of understanding. Both need each other, yet they turn apart because of ego- problem. 

Q3. What do both father and son long for? 

Ans. They long for an excuse to forgive each other. 

04. What do the words 'an empty hand' signify? 

Ans. The words 'an empty hand' signify that neither father nor the son has gained anything from their state of estrangement. Both of them are empty handed. 

05. What can't the father understand? 

Ans. The father can't understand why he becomes angry in his grief.

 

06. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme? 

Ans. Yes, the rhyme scheme in each stanza is abbaba.

 

Father to Son Question Answer

Q.1 Why have the father and the son become strangers to each other? 

Ans: In the poem both the father and the son are poles apart. Though they are living under the same roof for years, it still seems like they are strangers to each other. They don't share the thoughts. The father doesn't know even his son's likes and dislikes. There is a deep miscommunication as well as a generation gap between them. Physically, the son is built up as his father wished him to be, but emotionally, they are detached from each other. They don't have any kind of understanding between each other. They share their relationship in the same way strangers do.

 

Q.2 "We must live on the same globe and the same land". Explain the statement with reference to the poem 'Father to Son'. 
 

Ans: The poem describes a father-son relationship which has gone sour. Both the father and the son are poles apart. The father is unhappy as he doesn't understand his own child.

The father doesn't know about his son's likes and desires. The father wishes that his prodigal son would come back home. He also wishes that his son would live with him under the same roof rather than create his own world and move to it. 

It is true that in spite of such differences in outlook and temperament, they have to exist in the same world. It is expected to both of them that they have an understanding. 

The inspiration of a son is his father and the strength of a father is his son. If such detachment exists between them, then it is hard for them to live amiably. This is sure to have its impact on the whole family.

 

Q.3 What is the central idea of the poem 'Father to Son'? (120-150 words) 

Ans: The poem seems to be autobiographical, describing an exclusively personal experience, but its appeal is fairly universal. 

Both the father and the son are poles apart. In the poem, the poet talks about the deep differences that separate both of them. There is literally no dialogue between the father and the son. They don't understand each other. In spite of their living under the same roof for years, they are strangers to each other  and they have nothing common between them.

 

Physically, the son is built up as his father wished him to be. But this similarity is deceptive. The father wishes that his prodigal son would come back home. He doesn't want the son to lead an independent life. In fact, he wants him to live under the same roof and share his love. 

There is still a ray of hope that a new love may grow between them out of the present sorrow. They are ready to make amends; to forget and to forgive but both of them are hesitant to take the lead in this regard.

 

Q.4 The poem talks about the universal problem of generation gap. Why does such a situation exist? How can someone avoid such confrontations? Express your views in around 

 

Ans:- 

Generation gap is nothing but a psychological and emotional gap between parents or elder people and the younger ones. This creates misunderstanding and lack of attachment between the parents and children. The success of parenting lies in how effectively they avoid the generation gap or ignore differences with their children. 

Generation gap is the result of the fast paced development of society. In earlier times two or three generations lived in the same lifestyle and environment as the development was slow. Today, parents do not even know many of the modern technologies and equipment that children use. 

Being up-to-date is the only way to cope with the generation gap. When you are asked about anything by your children and if your answer is that you do not know, then you may be counted as a person of the past age. To avoid this situation, try to be current and updated with the latest information and technologies. When children express their feelings, understand them in the modern world context.