Topic - Father To Son Submitted by -

AKshdeepSubmitted to -Ms. Sheetal

Born: July 2, 1926, Lincolnshire

Died: October 25, 2001

Books: New collected poems, A Spell of

Words, Every changing shape, After the ark

Education: St Anne's College, Oxford High School

Jennings was born in Boston, Lincolnshire.

When she was six, her family moved to Oxford,

where she remained for the rest of her life. There

she later attended St Anne's College. After

graduation, she became a librarian.

Jennings' early poetry was published in journals

such as Oxford Poetry, New English Weekly, The

Spectator, Outposts and Poetry Review, but her

first book was not published until she was 27.

The lyrical poets she cited as having influenced

her were Hopkins, Auden, Graves and Muir. Her

second book, A Way of Looking, won the

Regarded as traditionalist rather than an

innovator, Jennings is known for her lyric

poetry and mastery of form. Her work displays

a simplicity of metre and rhyme shared

with Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Thom

Gunn, all members of the group of English

poets known as The Movement. She always

made it clear that, whilst her life, which

included a spell of severe mental illness,

contributed to the themes contained within her

work, she did not write explicitly

autobiographical poetry. Her deeply

held Roman Catholicism coloured much of her

work.

I do not understand this child Though we have lived together nowIn the same house for years. I know Nothing of him, so try to build Up a relationship from howHe was when small.

Father To Son(Elizabeth Jennings)

However old one grows, one always remains achild for one’s parents. But the child, afterhe has grown up, no longer regards hisparents as parents. He looks upon them asstrangers. His enstrangement causes theparents deep agony. The father in this poemsays that he no longer understands the samechild with whom he has been living for yearsin the same house. Now he knows nothing ofhim. He has become a total stranger forhim. The father wants to build up arelationship with him. He wants the samekind of relationship that he used to havewhen the son was a little child.

….....Yet have I killedThe seed I spent or sown it whereThe land is his and none of mine?We speak like strangers, there’s no signOf understanding in the air.This child is built to my designYet what he loves I cannot share.

The father feels that the very seed of thatrelationship, on which he had spent his allhas been killed. Or, he had sown it on aland that did not belong to him. It belongedto his son and he had no right to it. Inother words, all the pain and energy of thefather in bringing up his son has gone waste.That seed of relationship which he had beennurturing with such love has now sprouted onsomeone else’s land. In other words, theson’s affections have now turned from hisfather to anything else. Now they speak toeach other like strangers. There is nounderstanding between them.

The father says that he had brought up thechild according to his own designs, but nowhe doesn’t like any of the things that hisson loves. In other words, the father lovedto see the grow up according to his owndesigns, but now the son has hi owndifferent ways which the father doesn’t likeat all.

Silence surrounds us. I would haveHim prodigal, returning toHis father’s house, the home he knew,Rather than see him make and moveHis world. I would forgive him too,Shaping from sorrow a new love.

No interaction or conversation takes placebetween the father and the son. Theydon’t speak a word to each other. Hewants his son to comeback to him. Hewants to rebuild his relationship with him.He is prepared to accept him with all hisprofligacy. He wants him to come back tohis father’s home. He doesn’t want him togo and take a separate home of his own.He says that he would forgive him for allthe sorrow that he has given him. Out ofthat sorrow he wants to form a new love.In other words, he wants to forget allthat has been bitter between them.

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

The father says to his son that both ofthem have live on the same globe and onthe same land. Therefore, there is noreason for them to live as strangers. Thefather can’t understand why in his grief hebecomes angry with his son. He feels thatneither of them has gained from thepresent state of enstrangement. Both ofthem are in search of some excuse toforgive each other. Thus the father doesn’thold his son guilty. There is simply adifference in the ways of life – thegeneration gap.