5.Father to Son

Father to son

by Elizabeth Jennings

Introduction: “ Father to Son” deals with an estrange relationship, lack of understanding and an absence of a rapport between a father and his son. The father's longing for the same relationship they enjoyed during the sons childhood is very touching. Ready to forgive him, he helplessly watches the gap between the two becoming increasingly and unbridgeable.

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. Yet have I killed

Explanation

In the above stanza, the poet shares his feelings about his relationship with his son. He says that although they both had lived together in the same house for many years, yet he doesn’t understand him. He doesn’t know anything about his son, his likes and dislikes. He tried to build up a relationship with him from the time he was vain and small. His son has changed as he has grown up.

Stanza 2

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.

Sown – do something which will bring a result

Explanation  The father uses ‘I’ in the first line to acknowledge his role in the communication gap between them. He says that despite all efforts, his son was in another place that the father cannot access. They used to talk to each other like strangers and there was no sign of understanding between them. His child used to look like him and yet he didn’t know what his son loved.

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.

Prodigal – spending money freely

Explanation There is silence between them. As a child, he was a prodigal son and now his father wanted him to return to his house, the one he knew. He didn’t want his son to move around and make his own world. He was ready to forgive him and let go of the sorrows he had inside because of him, because of the distance between them. He wanted to love him again.

Stanza 4

Father and son, we both must live
On the same globe and the same land,
He speaks: I cannot understand
!!!, why anger grows from grief.
We each put out an empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive.

Grief – sorrow, sadness

Explanation The son speaks for the first time and explains what he feels. He also feels sad about the distance between them. He shares that he is at a point where he doesn’t understand himself. His anger arises out of his sadness. It is quite clear that on both sides lies the same frustration about the gap in their relationship. They both want to forgive each other and yet they cannot find a solution to the problem. Both of them put out an empty hand for the other to seek, always in vain.

Father to Son Literary Devices

Simile – a figure of speech that makes comparison and shows similarities between two things

We speak like strangers

Alliteration – The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely connected words

The seed I spent or sown it where – ‘s’ sound
Silence surrounds us

Metaphor – an indirect comparison between a quality shared by two persons or things

The seed I spent or sown it where
The land is his and none of mine?

I would have
Him prodigal, returning to
His father’s house