Summary of Father to son
Generation gap is a two-sided fact instead of one. It is a fact that every generation has to go through. Whether you are elder to your sister or younger to your brother, the clash of generation gap continues. However, in this poem, Father to Son, the poet has portrayed the generation gap between a father and his son. The poem basically brings forth a father’s illusions towards his son. The father is seen as a helpless human being who, since his son’s childhood, has been able to understand his son’s emotional growth.
In this first stanza of the poem, Father to Son by Elizabeth Jennings, the poet shows father saying that he has not succeeded in understanding his son because, he himself could not grow up with his son. This might be because when the son was growing differently, the father might have been busy in his chores, and would have kept himself aloof from the changes taking place in the outer world.
The poet says that the father and son now behave like strangers in their own house, and it is hardly possible that they would ever be able to understand each other. The land that once used to belong to the father is now all for the son, who wants to walk, talk and live in his own way. There is almost nil sign of understanding between both of them.
the poet shows the self-centeredness of the father, who though wishes to design his son’s life according to his own, when it comes sharing what his son likes and feels pleasure in, he avoid revealing it. Where he once used to think that his son would not be able to design his life, but it is time to talk about his son’s preferences he feels ashamed of revealing them.
In this first stanza of the poem, Father to Son by Elizabeth Jennings, the poet shows father saying that he has not succeeded in understanding his son because, he himself could not grow up with his son. This might be because when the son was growing differently, the father might have been busy in his chores, and would have kept himself aloof from the changes taking place in the outer world.
The poet says that the father and son now behave like strangers in their own house, and it is hardly possible that they would ever be able to understand each other. The land that once used to belong to the father is now all for the son, who wants to walk, talk and live in his own way. There is almost nil sign of understanding between both of them.
the poet shows the self-centeredness of the father, who though wishes to design his son’s life according to his own, when it comes sharing what his son likes and feels pleasure in, he avoid revealing it. Where he once used to think that his son would not be able to design his life, but it is time to talk about his son’s preferences he feels ashamed of revealing them.
In this last stanza of the poem, the poet doesn’t present what is expected from it. It does talk about the reconciliation, but doesn’t give any permanent solution. The father is shown and left lamenting and complaining, but doesn’t want to provide any solution.
Similarly the son is shown to be ready to reconcile and live again as they used to live earlier. But this does not end the problem of generation gap that remains between the father and son. Therefore, as a sign of reconciliation, each of them welcomes one another to live friendly.
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