Father to Son

Father to Son

                                                          By Elizabeth Jennings

Analysis :

·      The poem ‘Father to Son’ composed by Elizabeth Jennings is a beautiful poem on the tussles and misunderstanding between a father and his son.

·      The poem is about a father who is in pain as he doesn’t have a good relationship with his son who is now grown up and is busy in his life.

·      The poem helps the readers learn their mistakes and develop the sensitivity, sensibility and understanding among the family members especially the parents and children. The poem beautifully and impactfully teaches the family members imbibe the values like concern, empathy, compassion, understanding and mutual respect for one another.

·      The tone of the poem is reflective and sad as a father feels helpless about the generation gap between his son and himself and it deals with helpless feeling of separation.

·      The story explores the theme of generation gap and need to develop mutual respect, tolerance, patience and understanding among the family members.

·      The story conveys the message that all family members should come on the same plane and without expectation try to understand other person's needs and thoughts.

Line by Line Explanation

 

Stanza 1
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.

Explanation – In the above stanza, the poet shares his bitterness and his helplessness about growing distance between himself and his son. He wonders,  although they both have lived together in the same house for many years, he doesn’t understand him. He doesn’t know anything about his son, his likes and dislikes. He tried to build up a strong and healthy relationship with his son taking a clue from his childhood. When his son was a kid, he was expressive enough hence, easy to understand. Father could understand what his son needs and what he wants to say, in his childhood. His son changed after he grew up.

 

Stanza 2

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.

Explanation – The father reflects and gets sad to acknowledge his own role or mistake in creating distance between them. He feels that he himself has snapped the link between them as if he himself killed the seed he has grown in the ground. Here, he compares his son to a seed which he has sown in the ground. He concludes that either he himself killed the seed he had sown or the seed was sown in a foreign ground which doesn't belong to him. He also wonders whether the child is his own because now the son has become completely different and he is unable to understand him. He tries to communicate that despite all efforts, his son has gone to live in another world that he cannot access. They talk to each other like strangers as if they live in two different worlds and talk in two different languages or foreign tongue. There is no sign of understanding between them. His child used to look like him as he has inherited his genes, yet now, he didn’t know anything about his son such as his likes, dislikes, needs, desires, etc.

 

Stanza 3

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.                                                                                          Father and son, we both must live
On the same globe and the same land,

Explanation – There is deep silence between the father and the son and this silence arises from lack of understanding and inability to communicate or express. They both behave like strangers or foreigners who speak different language that’s why there is silence around both of them and it creates distance. The father wishes his son being generous to forgive him and come back to him, his own house. He didn’t want his son to move around and make his own world separate from his father’s. He is ready to forgive him and wants his son to do the same. He wants that after all the sorrows they both had faced, there must be only love around them. There has been lot of sorrow in their hearts due to distance and separation but now, he wishes his son to forgive him and come back to him so that there is only love between them. He longs that a beautiful loving relation must tie them together as they live together in the same world; same house.

 

Stanza 4

He speaks: I cannot understand
Myself, why anger grows from grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive.

Explanation – Towards the end, the son speaks, for the first time. He fails to understand the reason behind this distance and misunderstanding between them. He fails to understand what he feels. He also feels sad about the distance between them. He doesn’t understand why sometimes, anger arises out of sadness. They both are sad and due to this sorrow they become angry and go apart. On both the sides there lies the same frustration about the generation gap in their relationship. Now, they both want to forgive each other and stretch out an empty hand. It means that they long to forgive and understand each other yet they find it difficult. They have love but not understanding, there is umpteen trust but they are never on same plane when it comes to understand each other. The threat of generation gap hangs over their relation.

Poetic Devices

I do not understand this child - Consonance
In the same house for years. I know – Consonance, Assonance
Nothing of him, so try to build - Irony
Up a relationship from how - Consonance

The seed I spent or sown it where – Consonance, Alliteration, Metaphor, Anaphora

The land is his and none of mine? – Consonance, Assonance, Anaphora

We speak like strangers, there’s no sign – Alliteration, Irony

This child is built to my design – Assonance, Consonance, Irony

Yet what he loves I cannot share. – Consonance, Irony

Silence surrounds us. I would have – Consonance, Alliteration, Pathos
His father’s house, the home he knew, - Alliteration
Rather than see him make and move – Alliteration, Pathos
His world. I would forgive him too, - Consonance, Alliteration
Shaping from sorrow a new love. - Alliteration

On the same globe and the same land, - Consonance, Repetition, Symbolism, Assonance

Myself, why anger grows from grief. – Consonance, Alliteration

We each put out an empty hand, - Consonance, Assonance