NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Chapter 8 - Father To Son

1. Does the poem talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly universal?

Ans: The poem is about a singularly personal event. However, we can also term it pretty general because this type of disagreement occurs frequently in many households. It's also known as the generation gap, which occurs when parents are overprotective of their children and want to keep them from making mistakes, while children perceive their ideals to be oppressive.

2. How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem?

Ans: The emotional turmoil that the parent goes through emphasizes his helplessness. He is aware of the issue and wants to fix it, but he is unable to do so. He bemoans the fact that his son has turned into a stranger to him. He regrets the lack of a deep emotional tie and proper communication with his estranged son, and he wishes to begin anew and repair their relationship.

3. Identify the phrases and lines that indicate the distance between father and son.

Ans: A phrase/line that indicates the distance between the father and the son are:

• ‘I don't comprehend this youngster.

• 'I don't know anything about him.

• ‘We converse as though we are strangers.'

• ‘In the air, there is no trace of comprehension.'

• ‘We are surrounded by silence.'

• He says something that I don't comprehend.

• Each of us extended an empty hand.

4. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?

Ans: No, there isn't a regular rhyme scheme in the poem. The rhyme system ab ba ba is used in the first two stanzas, however, the third and fourth stanzas differ slightly. The abc aba scheme is used in the third stanza, while the abbcb scheme is used in the fourth.

NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English Hornbill Chapter 8 Poem - Father to Son

Class 11 Father to Son Solutions

1. Discuss How a Father’s Helplessness is Brought Forward in the Poem

Ans: In this poem by Elizabeth Jennings, where the poet has come up and open about the anguish of a father and son relationship in this lovely piece of artwork. The theme revolves around the poor relationship with his son that is shared by his father. Overall, the poem has done a great job in bringing out the helplessness of a father through several existing circumstances. 

For the basic relationship that a father and son relationship is always considered to be friendly and very casual and a father is also considered to be the best friend and advisor to his son. However, in this poem, the poem does not resonate to the bond of affinity or relationship between the duo. Throughout the poem, Jennings has revealed how the father and son are not even in speaking terms, although they have been sharing the same roof. The helplessness of the father is also brought across in instances that show how the father can’t share what his son loves.

Across the entire poem, we can form an idea of how the son shares quite a resemblance with his father in terms of his appearance but fails to acknowledge his likes in particular. However, we come to know that the father also acknowledges the gap in between their relationship and they also communicate like total strangers. The father in the poem also believes that his son is at a different place where his father won’t feel the right to have access due to their not so good bond.

2. Bring Out the Summary of the Poem in Short

Ans: The poem revolves around the anguish of a father who shares a poor bond with his son. His son who is an adult leads a different life and the father feels separated due to the same. Additionally, he does not appreciate the generation gap. 

However, the father also wants to share the same old loving relationship that he once used to share with his son and make things just like it was before when his son was a child. While the father tries to resolve the issues with his son, it ends in vain and both relationships drift apart.

The poem also sets a stage around a ranting father who is not okay with the drifting relationship he shares with his son. The busy son who leads an adult life fails to make his father feel welcomed and hardly shares anything about himself.  

The poem also talks about the son's look at his bond with his father. He also feels pain about the gap that he has with his father and him. This distance makes him angry as well. Lastly, both want to forgive each but are unaware of their problems.