ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elizabeth Jennings was an English poet born in Boston,

Lincolnshire, on 18th July 1926. When Jennings was six years old
her family relocated to Oxford, England, where she lived for the
rest of her life. While Jennings' poetry was not initially seen as
autobiographical, her later work became more personal. Jennings'
poetry was deeply influenced by her Roman Catholic faith.

Elizabeth Jennings was educated at the University of Oxford and

decided to become a writer upon graduation. Jennings' poetry was
featured in many British magazines, and her first collection, A
Way of Looking (1955), was published when she was 29. The
book won the Somerset Maugham Award that year, and the
money earned afforded Jennings the opportunity to visit Italy for
three months. The trip to Italy had a profound effect on Elizabeth
Jennings and her poetry. Jennings' faith in Catholicism deepened,
and her poems became more revelatory about her life.

Jennings struggled with mental health for large periods of her life.
In 1962, Jennings suffered a nervous breakdown which she wrote
about in the collections Recoveries (1964) and The Mind Has
Mountains (1964). After her breakdown, Jennings' poetry became
more experimental and less well-received by critics.
INTRODUCTION OF THE POEM:
The poem is about the anguish of a father who doesn’t have a
good relationship with his son. His son is now grown up and is
busy in his life. The father is bitter about the generation gap
between them and the feeling of separation. He shares his feelings
by saying he doesn’t know much about him and there is no sign
of understanding. He wants their relationship to be just like when
his son was a child. He is trying his best to resolve the issue but
he is in vain. Therefore, they are drifting apart.
SUMMARY OF THE POEM:

The father describes his relationship with his son in the first
stanza. He says that although he has lived for so many years in the
same house with his son, he is not able to understand the latter
now that he is grown up. The father tries to build up a good
relationship with his son. His approach is similar to how he used
to communicate with his son during his childhood. Though we
see a sense of despair from the father’s end to reach out to his
son, we also perceive a lack of a suitable communication strategy
to appeal to the latter’s attention.

The father also doubts the upbringing of his son. He fears that he
might have done something to sabotage the relationship with his
son. The thread of communication might have broken due to his
untoward behaviour with his son. The word ‘land’ is used to
represent the two different worlds father and son are inhabiting. It
is a metaphorical expression of how alien and strange the son
appears to his father. The father confesses that their conversations
have no mutual understanding, and they talk like strangers. His
son shares his blood and genetic features by birth, but the father
cannot still figure out the former’s likes and dislikes.

The poem depicts the feelings of hopelessness and anguish the

father feels. His voice has a tone of eagerness – which stems from
sorrow and fear. The fear that he might never be able to know his
son again. The father’s desperation to bond with his son is such
that he would rather see his prodigal son return home than see
him create a future of his own somewhere else. He does not want
to be estranged from his son. The father resolves to reform his
behaviour towards his son. He decides to forgive him and forget
all differences between them. The father plans to shower love on
his son – love that arises out of the sorrow the former has
experienced.
The father understands that he and his son have to live in the
same world and place. The problem arises when there is a clash of
temperaments between the two. The father does not understand
why he experiences anger while talking to his son. This anger
results from his grievous experience with his son. The relationship
between the father and son seems unresolvable. Forgiveness seems to be
a long way for both. Father and son both expect each to forgive the other,
but no one seems to take the first step.
1st stanza
Poem
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
Explanation of the Poem - In the above stanza, the poet shares his
feelings about his relationship with his son. He says that although
they both had lived together in the same house for many years,
yet he doesn’t understand him. He doesn’t know anything about
his son, his likes and dislikes. He tried to build up a relationship
with him from the time he was vain and small. His son has
changed as he has grown up.

2nd stanza
Poem
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 Meaning: Sown – do something which will bring a result
Explanation of the Poem – The father uses ‘I’ in the first line to
acknowledge his role in the communication gap between them.
He says that despite all efforts, his son was in another place that
the father cannot access. They used to talk to each other like
strangers and there was no sign of understanding between them.
His child used to look like him and yet he didn’t know what his
son loved.
3rd stanza
Poem
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 Meaning: Prodigal – spending money freely

Explanation of the Poem – There is silence between them. As a

child, he was a prodigal son and now his father wanted him to
return to his house, the one he knew. He didn’t want his son to
move around and make his own world.He was ready to forgive
him and let go of the sorrows he had inside because of him,
because of the distance between them. He wanted to love him
again.

4th stanza
Poem
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 Meaning: Grief – sorrow, sadness
Explanation of the Poem – The son speaks for the first time and
explains what he feels. He also feels sad about the distance
between them. He shares that he is at a point where he doesn’t
understand himself. His anger arises out of his sadness. It is quite
clear that on both sides lies the same frustration about the gap in
their relationship. They both want to forgive each other and yet
they cannot find a solution to the problem. Both of them put out
an empty hand for the other to seek, always

Father to Son Literary Devices

Simile – afigure of speech that makes comparison and shows

similarities between two things

We speak like strangers

Alliteration – The
occurrence of the same letter or sound at the
beginning of closely connected words

The seed I spent or sown it where – ‘s’ sound

Silence surrounds us
Metaphor –an indirect comparsion between a quality shared by two
persons or things

The seed I spent or sown it where

The land is his and none of mine?
I would have
Him prodigal, returning to
His father’s house
Conclusion of Father to Son
Father to Son Summary shows us how parents strive continuously
to improve relationships with their children. There is a sense of
agony and hopelessness in the father’s voice as he confesses his
insecurities about his relationship with his son. He wants to
understand his son as a person but does not know where or how to
start. The equation has become so stagnant that even if there is
hope to revive the relationship, both seem stuck in a place of
inner resistance. The father and son are both reluctant to take the
first step towards a new and healthy relationship.