84. Father to Son(15)(HS1st Yr)
1. Who is the poet?
A:- Elizabeth Jennings is the poet of the poem "Father to Son."
2. Is it a personal poem?
A:- The poem looks autobiographical. It describes the relationship between a father and his son. However, it has universal theme of the growing generation gap and lack of communication in between parents and children.
3. What is the rhyme-scheme?
A:- The poem has four stanzas with six lines each. It has no consistent rhyme scheme. First two stanzas are ab ba ba. The third stanza has abc aba. Fourth stanza has abbcb as rhyming scheme.
4. What does the speaker say about father-son relationship?
A:- The father-son relationship is in non functional state. They speak like strangers and exchange words very formally. Only, silence surrounds them. The father does not understand the aspirations, longings or cravings of the son.
5. Give examples of two lines which reflects the father-son relation.
A:- "I don't know anything about him" and "We are surrounded by silence" are examples of two lines which reflect the cold father-son relationship.
6. "Each of us extended an empty hand." Explain how and what happened.
A:- The modern age of machines has affected human relations everywhere. One such relationship is father-son as shown in this poem. The two might live in the same house but they have almost no relation. They don't talk to each other and do not understand each other. The relationship is empty. However, when they try to recreate the relationship they are positive and extend their empty hands to begin anew.
7. What is Prodigal son?
A:- Prodigal son is a biblical reference in a parable of Jesus in Luke 15:11-32. In the story, the father has two sons. The younger son asks for his portion of inheritance from the father. He goes against the father and family by overspending money and returns home after three years with full loss. However, he repents his unwise mistake and tries to reform himself for future.
8. How is the father helpless?
A:- Father says that they had lived in the same house for many years. Yet the father did not understand his son. He says that they have become strangers. He tries to make good relationship and wants to forget bitterness and start things fresh.
9. "...what he loves I cannot share." What does this phrase mean?
A:- The father cannot develop love for what the son loves. Their worlds remain completely two despite living under one roof. The relationship is completely fractured as they cannot appreciate each other's choices.
10. When did Jennings live?
A:- Elizabeth Jennings lived from 1926 to 2001. She was an English poet. She wrote lyrical poems which has simple metre and rhyme. She belonged to The Movement group of English poets along with Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Thom Gunn.
11. Why doesn't the father know anything about his son?
A:- The father-son relationship is actually non functional. The father doesn't understand his son's aspirations. They do not communicate with each other and behave like strangers. Therefore, the father doesn't know anything about his son.
12. Is the father responsible for the son's condition?
A:- Yes, the father might be responsible for the son's present condition. The son's version is not known in the poem. It is the father who vents out his feelings who confesses his inability to communicate and share life with his own son despite living in same house.
13. What is the meaning of'Silence surrounds us?'
A:- Silence surrounds the father and son because they do not interact and communicate with each other. They do not share lives with each other, live like strangers and so silence surrounds them. It is the absence of verbal exchange and birth of mental gap too in between the two.
14. What does the father want as per the third stanza?
A:- The father wants to correct the situation in the third stanza. He wants his son to return back to him. He is willing to begin life newly with the son.
15. What is the generation gap in the poem?
A:- Generation gap is the result of the fast paced development of society particularly in relation to machinery or technology. The older generation may become a bit slower in accepting these faster technology. The younger or new generation often underestimates the capacity of the previous generation. This creates a gap and misunderstanding with the new generation which is called generation gap. In the poem too, the son might be thinking his father incapable of the newer demands of life.