E 02

E 02

• 2.
  Elizabeth Joan Jennings(July 18, 1926 – October 26, 2001) was an English poet, noted for her clarity of style and simplicity of literary approach. Her Roman Catholicism colored much of her work. Elizabeth Jennings’ “Father to Son” highlights the theme of the generation gap which crops up due to lack of communication, acceptance and change of views and ideas. The poem reveals the internal conflict that a father undergoes when his son grows up and has his own interests, ideas and perceptions.
• 3.
  The theme ofthis poem is the relationship between a father and son and the generation gap that exists between them. The father remarks that he cannot understand his son even though they have lived in the same house for years. They had a good relationship when the son was small; but now, as years have passed, the distance between them has grown. The father and son speak to each other as if they are strangers. Their thoughts don't match and there is no sign of understanding in the air. Although his son is very much similar to him, they do not share any common passion. There is deep silence between them.
• 4.
  The father saysthat he would like his son to come back to him. He would prefer to see his son return to him than see him struggling on his own to make his own life. He would forgive his son if he came and asked for forgiveness. Even though the father and son do not understand each other, they must live together. Both of them offer to understand each other, but in vain. They both long to be together, but it is difficult for them to accept their differences and live with each other in harmony.
• 5.
  Elizabeth Jennings saysthat fathers and sons all over the world should learn to live on the same globe and same land. In the end, the father has a realization that he is the one who cannot understand himself and gets angry. The father concludes that each one of them is willing to forgive the other. Respecting each other’s differences is the only way out to diminish the distance between parents and children.
• 6.
  Both the sonand the father speak to each other as strangers and there seems to be no understanding between the two. There is a silence between the two. There is no common ground of interest between the two. The father feels awkward in trying to figure out why his own son has turned into an absolute stranger. The father says that his child is built to his design which means that the son is the design of his father. So he should resemble his father though the current picture says something else.
• 7.
  The father seeshis son as the ‘the prodigal son’ who is spendthrift and would soon return to his father’s house which was once his very own. The father is willing to forgive him at any cost so that he returns to his father’s home instead of moving out into a new house and fall into unnecessary troubles due to young age. The son also admits that he is even struggling to understand his own self. He does feel the sadness related to the broken relationship he has with his father.
• 8.
  I do notunderstand 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
• 11.
  The seed Ispent 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.
• 12.
  For the father,the son was his seed that he expected to grow and take branches under his shade but now he finds that his expectations from his son have all gone waste.
• 13.
  Even strangers becomefamiliar after sometime but here the father and son are strangers even after their association for years, under the same roof.
• 14.
  “Yet what heloves I cannot share.”
• 15.
  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.
• 16.
  ‘ The Prodigal Son'is a Biblical reference from the New Testament's parables of Jesus. The story is of a father with two sons. The younger demanded his inheritance despite the fact that traditionally, the eldest born is heir. The father accedes and the spoilt younger son leaves home. He spends his fortune foolishly, eventually returning to his father's house with barely a stitch of cloth on his body. The father forgives him, and welcomes him into his embrace with open arms and a celebratory feast. Artist Pompeo Batoni represented this parable beautifully through the following painting:
• 17.
  The prodigal sonwent away from his father and later realized his father’s love and care. Similarly yet differently, the father in the poem wants his son return to him after having wandered like the prodigal son. All that the father wants is his son’s realization and recognition, even at the cost of his temporary ruin.
• 19.
  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.
• 20.
  Inspite of allthese differences, the father and the son must live in the same world and on the same earth. The father can’t understand when (what) the son speaks to him. Nor can he understand why his grief is turned into anger.
• 21.
  Both of themtry to come closer and fill up the gap that separates them. Both extend their empty hands to the other. Both of them are in search of some excuse to forgive each other . But they can’t help being what they are.