1. WELCOME
A POEM
FATHER TO SON

2. TOPICS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
POEM
SUMMARY / ANALYSIS OF POEM
WORD MEANINGS OF POEM
POINTS TO REMEMBER
QUESTIONS

3. 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.

4. FATHER TO SON
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. Yet have I
killed

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive.

8. SUMMARY OF THE POEM
The 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.

9. 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.

10. 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'.

11. 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?

12. 1
2
3 4
5
6
EclipseCrossword.com
Across
5. the use of the same letter or sound at the
beginning of words that are close together
6. Longing
Down
1. pained
2. extravagant
3. a short story that teaches a moral lesson
4. something that refers to another person or
subject in an indirect way
LET’S DO THIS

14. CREATED BY-SAMSHAD ALI
SUBMITTED TO Mrs. KAMAL