Question 1:
Identify the phrases and lines that indicate distance between father and son.
Answer:
The following lines indicate the distance between the father and the son.
1. I do not understand this child.
2. I know nothing of him.
3. We speak like strangers.
4. There’s no sign of understanding in the air.
5. Silence surrounds us.
Question 2:
Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme ?
Answer:
No, the poem does not have a consistent rhyme scheme. The first two stanzas have the rhyme-scheme ab ba ba whereas the third and fourth have a slight alteration. The third stanza has abc aba whereas the fourth one has abbcb scheme.
Question 3:
Does the poem talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly universal ?
Answer:
The poem describes a father’s agony over a sense of estrangement from his son. The father gave all his love when the son was a little child. He wanted the son to grow up into a man of his choice. He wanted him to do the things he loved to do. But when the son grew up, he had a world of his own. He had his own likes and dislikes. Both the son and the father became strangers to each other. Though the poem describes a personal experience, this feeling of emotional estrangement is fairly universal. Children, when they grow up, form a world of their own.
Question 4:
How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem ?
Answer:
The father gave his son all love and care when the son was a little child. He wanted his son to grow up into a man of his choice. But when the son grew up, he had a world of his own. He had his own likes and dislikes. The father did not like his profligacy. Thus there developed a sense of estrangement between the two. There was hardly any communication or conversation between them. The poor father now felt very sad and forlorn. He longed to build the same relationship with his son that he had when the son was a little child. Now he was prepared to accept his son with all his profligacy. He was also prepared to forgive him for all the sorrows he had given him. All this shows how helpless the poor father is.