By elizabeth jennings

Summary

Elizabeth Joan Jennings (July 18, 1926 – October 26, 2001) was an English poet, noted for her clarity of style and simplicity of literary approach. Her Roman Catholicism colored much of her work. She always made it clear that, whilst her life, which includes a spell of severe mental illness, contributed to the themes contained within her work, she did not write explicitly autobiographical poetry.

Elizabeth Jennings’ “Father to Son” highlights the theme of the generation gap which crops up due to lack of communication, acceptance and change of views and ideas. The poem reveals the internal conflict that a father undergoes when his son grows up and has his own interests, ideas and perceptions.

In “Father to Son”, the father complains that he does not understand his own child. The father wonders that although they have been living together since his birth, the father knows nothing of his son.

The father has tried to build up a connection with his son when his son first began to recognize people around, when he desperately tried to crawl and walk. The father is pondering that whether he has destroyed the seed of his offspring or have sown in a land where it belongs to his heir and none of his.Both the son and the father speak to each other as strangers and there seems to be no understanding between the two. There is a silence between the two. There is no common ground of interest between the two. The father feels awkward in trying to figure out why his own son has turned into an absolute stranger.

The father says that his child is built to his design which means that the son is the design of his father. So he should resemble his father though the current picture says something else.The father sees his son as the ‘the prodigal son’ who is spendthrift and would soon return to his father’s house which was once his very own. The father is willing to forgive him at any cost so that he returns to his father’s home instead of moving out into a new house and fall into unnecessary troubles due to young age.

The son also admits that he is even struggling to understand his own self. He does feel the sadness related to the broken relationship he has with his father.

Elizabeth Jennings says that fathers and sons all over the world should learn to live on the same globe and same land. In the end, the father has a realization that he is the one who cannot understand himself and gets angry.

The father concludes that each one of them is willing to forgive the other. Respecting each other’s differences is the only way out to diminish the distance between parents and children.

Q 1. What does the speaker say about father-son relationship ?

Ans – Actually, the father-son relationship is non-functional . The father doesnot understand the aspiration, longings or carving of the son. They speak like strangers. Their exchanges, if any are just formal. Otherwise silence surrounds them.

Q 2. What do you think s responsible for the distance between father and son ?

Ans. The lack of understanding on the part of the older generation is the root of the problem. The father wants the young man to stick to home turf. The son now a young man seeks fresh avenues and lives in a world of his own. The father finds it hard to adjust to growing changes.

Q3. why do you think does the father appear so helpless ?

Ans. The father has been unable to understand what his son loves to do. He is not in a position to advise him as there is hardly any intimacy between them. They speak like strangers otherwise there is silence around them. They speak like strangers otherwise there is silence around them. The son has his own dreams and plans which he doesnot appreciate.

Q4. How can you infer that the father wishes his own son to remain at home with him ?

Ans. The father finds the son’s interests quite different. He is home bound, whereas the son is on the look out for fresh avenues. He aspires for a world of his own. The father want him to return home even if he undergoes losses by his exravagant ventures . He is willing to make up with him if he agrees to live with him.

Q5. What do you mean by ‘the prodigal son’ ?

Ans. The poet has used the word ‘prodigal’ for the son who is wasteful of one’s mean.

MADE BY-OMKAR B.KHANDAGALECLASS – XI BROLL NO. 08