Father to Son By Elizabeth Jennings [AHSEC Class 11 English Notes for 2025 Exam]

Father to Son By Elizabeth Jennings
[AHSEC Class 11 English Notes for 2025 Exam]

About the Poem

The central idea 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. The poem reveals an internal conflict that a father undergoes when his son grows up and possesses his own interests, ideas and perceptions. 

The unhappy father complains that he cannot understand his child despite having lived together, for so many years in the same house. Instead of bonding together, they have drifted apart. The gap has resulted in non-communication and non-understanding of each other. If both of them decide to take a lead and are willing to forget and forgive, their relationship may improve. Respecting each other’s differences is the only way out to diminish the distance between parents and children.

STANZA WISE EXPLANATION OF THE POEM

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.

WORD MEANINGS

Understand = know.

For years = for many years.

Build up = develop

Explanation

The father unhappily reflects on his inability to understand his own son. They have been staying in the same house for years but, due to non-communication and a lack of understanding, both son and father are not able to understand each other. The father does not know much about his son’s interests, likes or dislikes. Thus, he try to build up the same kind of relationship as he used to have when his son was a little child. The father has now perhaps realized that there is a lack of understanding between his son and himself and he wants to take measures so that their relationship improves.

STANDA 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.

WORD MEANINGS

Strangers = unknown to each other.

Sign = Indication.

In the air = known.

Cannot share = do not.

Also Read: AHSEC Class 11 Chapter wise notes  (Prose & Poetry 30 Marks)

i) Prose Section





ii) Poetry Section





iii) Supplementary Reader: 10 Marks



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Explanation

The father wonders whether it is he himself who is responsible for the failure of the relationship. The father feels that though the child is his son but perhaps he lives in a world different from him. Both father and son behave like strangers. There is lack of understanding and a communication gap which makes them behave not like father and son but more like strangers. The father says that physically the child resembles him but he does not appreciate what his son likes.

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.

WORD MEANINGS

Silence = here it means lack of communication.

Surrounds = everywhere, all over.

Prodigal = extravagant, wasteful.

Move his world = shift to newer avenues.

Shaping from sorrow = making something new.

Explanation

Silence surrounds their relationship because there is a complete lack of communication between them. The father sees his son as a prodigal (meaning, a child who foolishly runs away from home) and wants him to return to the home he has always known, so that they can rebuild the relationship to have a new start. He does not want the son to start life afresh without the father. He further says that he is willing to forgive his son for running away. Here the father’s tone is somewhat condescending, implying that the father is unable to left his son go, despite restricting the son’s independence and development.

STANZA 4

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.

WORD MEANINGS

Same globe = this world.

Grows from grief = develops from deep sorrow.

Put out = extend.

Longing = desiring keenly or strongly.

Explanation

Both fathers and their sons all over the world must learn to live together in spite of their misunderstandings and differences. At this point in the poem, the son speaks for the first time and admits that he too feels the sadness of the broken relationship, but he is angry due to his confusion. Both father and son want to forgive each other, but neither is ready to take the first step of asking for forgiveness from the other. However, the situation can improve if they find a way of getting closer to each other.

Question-Answers

1. Why is the father unhappy and what is the problem?          2011 , 2017

Ans. Father is unhappy because he has no communication with his son. They do not understand each other and treat each other like a stranger. Though they lived under the same roof, they have nothing common in them.

2. Why does the father want to build a relation with the son?

Ans. The helpless father wants to build a positive relation with his son because there is literally no communication between them. They do not understand each other and they are stranger to each other. There is nothing common between them.

3. How did the father feels helpless in spite of the fact that the son is built to his design?

Or

 How the father’s helplessness brought in the poem?          2011 ,2012, 2013  2017

Ans. Physically, the son is built up as his father wanted him to be. But the father feels helpless because he wanted his son to grow up into man of his choice but the son, growing up chose another of his own. He had his own likes and dislikes which the father could not relate. There is a communication gap between them. They do not understand each other and treat each other like a stranger.

4. What does the father want his son to do?

Ans. The father wants his son to return to his father’s house. He is ready to forgive him for all the wrong he has done. He do not want him to go away but return to him.

5. What does the father mean when he says, ‘Silence surrounds us.’

Ans. By this the father means that now complete silence prevails between the father and the son. They no longer talk to each other and only silence surrounds them.

6. What do the words ‘an empty hand’ signify?

Ans. The words ‘an empty hand’ signify that neither father nor the son has gained anything from their state of estrangement. Both of them are empty handed.

7. ‘…..we must live on the same globe and the same land’. Explain the significance of these line.

Ans. The father wants to convince his estranged son. In spite of their deep differences, they must live on the same globe. They will have to live in the same world. Living together in the same world, it becomes necessary that they should develop mutual understanding. They should build up a relationship between them.

8. ‘Father to son’ doesn’t talk of an exclusive personal experience only but it has a fairly universal appeal. Justify this statement.          2018

Ans. In the poem the poet does talk of an exclusive personal experience. He talks about the deep differences that separate both of them. But the poem does have a universal appeal. The father and the son represent the generation gap that separates every father and every son in every family.

9.Whom do you hold responsible for the atmosphere of mutual distrust that prevails between the father and the son? Give a reasoned answer.           2019

EXTRACT:

Read the following questions and choose the most appropriate alternative from those that are given below:

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

Questions and Answers

1. Who doesn’t understand ‘this child’?

Ans. The poet doesn’t understand his own child.

2. Where have both of them lived for years?

Ans. Both of them have lived under the same roof for years.

3. What does he know about his son?

Ans. He knows nothing about his son. He is completely a stranger to him.

4. What does the father want?

Ans. The father wants to build up a workable relationship with his son.

5. Give the opposite of the word ‘build’.

Ans. Destroy.

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.

Questions and Answers

1. Why does the father feel that the seed was sown in the land that was not his own?

Ans. The son doesn’t share any of the characteristics of his father. So it seems that the seed was sown in the land that belonged to the other.

2. How do they speak to each other?

Ans. They speak to each other like strangers.

3. Do they have any kind of understanding between them?

Ans. No, they don’t have any kind of understanding between them. They think and act differently.

4. Why can’t one share what the other loves?

Ans. The son and the father have different temperaments and outlooks, and they can’t share what the other likes or loves.

5. Find the antonym of: (i) ‘Strangers’    (ii) ‘Loves’.

Ans. (i) Acquaintances   (ii) Hates.

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.

Questions and Answers

1. ‘Silence surrounds us’. Why?

Ans. There is no dialogue (communion) between the two. They don’t even talk to each other.

2. What does the father wish?

Ans. The father wishes that his extravagant son would come back to his father’s house.

3. Does he want his son to ‘make and move his world’?

Ans. No, he doesn’t want that his son may lead an independent life of his own. He wants him to live under the same roof and share a common life.

4. What can shape from sorrow?

Ans. Perhaps a new love can take birth our of sorrow. The father is in a mood to forget and forgive all the previous sorrows and bitterness.

5. Find words from the passage which mean: (i) situated all around (ii) extravagant (iii) coming back.

Ans. (i) surrounds (ii) prodigal (iii) returning.

4.       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.

Questions and Answers

1. Where must they live together?

Ans. Both the son and the father must live ‘on the same globe’ or in the same world.

2. Can the father understand his son? If not, why?

Ans. No, the father can’t understand his son. They don’t have any understanding between them.

3. What makes the father angry?

Ans. The grief of the grieved father turns into anger.

4. How do they try to fill up the gap that separates them?

Ans. They try to fill up the gap that separates them by extending their empty hands towards each other.

5. Find words from the passage which mean the following: (i) world (ii) (deep) sorrow (iii) (strong) desiring.

Ans. (i) globe (ii) grief (iii) longing.

Exam Questions From 2011 to 2024

1. How is the fathers helplessness brought out in the poem “Father to Son”?     2012 2011 , 2013 2017

2.What does the father think of his ‘Prodigal’ son?         2011

Ans: The father thinks that his son is different from him ( father) as he has his own likes and dislikes.

3. For how long have the father and son staying together in the same house?         2012

Ans: The father and sonhave been  staying together in the same house for many year.

4. What is the father’s greatest wish for his son?          2015

Ans: See Q. No. 4 Page No.14

6. Does the poem ‘Father to Son’ talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly universal? Give a reasoned reply.         2018

 Read the stanza and answer the following questions:

a)      Father and son, we both must live                               2018

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

1) Where must father and son live together?      1

 Ans: Both the son and the father must live ‘on the same globe’ or in the same world.

2) What is the source of the father’s anger?        1

Ans. The grief of the grieved father turns into anger

3) What does the ‘empty hand’ signify?               1

4) What do they long for?                                     1                                                

Ans: They long for something to forgive

5) What idea do you form about the relationship between the father and his son from the quoted lines?  4

Ans: The father cannot know anything about his son because the son stays away in his won world and does not care for the father’s feelings. So, the father wishes to build up a relationship which existed between them when the son was a little child

b)      Silence surrounds us. I would have         2016

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

(i) Why does the father say that silence surrounds them?             1

Ans. Father said that silence surrounds as because his relation with his son has almost diminished.

(ii) Does the speaker want his son to belong to a different world?           1

Ans. No, the speaker does not want his son to belong to a different world.

(iii) What can be shaped out of sorrow?              1

Ans. Love can be shaped out of sorrow.

(iv) Find a word in the passage that means “Extravagant”        1

Ans. Prodigal.

(v) What idea do you form about the relationship between father and son from the quoted lines?                4

Ans. The father cannot know anything about his son because the son stays away in his won world and does not care for the father’s feelings. So, the father wishes to build up a relationship which existed between them when the son was a little child.

           c)       I do not understand this child                                2017

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.

a)      Where do these lines occur?                   1

b)      Why does the speaker say that he does not know this child?               1

c)       For how long have the father and son lived together?             1

d)      What does the speaker try to build?              1

e)      What idea do you form about the relationship between the father and son from the quoted lines?  

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