Class -11th

Poem -Father to son

Short questions (3marks)
1.Does the poem talk of an exclusively personal experience or is it fairly
universal?
Ans: The poem ‘Father to Son’ talks about a fairly universal experience.
When a child is growing up, the father is usually busy with his work and is
not able to take out time for his child. When the father grows older and has
free time, his son gets involved in his life and has no time for his old father.
This cycle is universal.
2. How is the father’s helplessness brought out in the poem?
Ans: The father’s helplessness is brought out in the poem by these lines: ‘I
do not understand this child, Though we have lived together now, In the
same house for years.’ ‘He speaks: I cannot understand Myself, why anger
grows from grief.’ ‘Yet what he loves I cannot share’ and ‘I know Nothing of
him’.
These lines indicate how he wanted to make a relationship with his son
better and now as his son was like a stranger to him, they both put out an
empty hand to each other and remain in vain.

3. Identify the phrases and lines that indicate the distance between father
and son.?
Ans: The phrases and lines that indicate the distance between both of them
are: ‘I do not understand this child, Though we have lived together now, In
the same house for years.’ ‘He speaks: I cannot understand Myself, why
anger grows from grief.’ ‘Yet what he loves I cannot share’ ‘I know Nothing
of him’ and ‘Silence surrounds us’.
4. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?
Ans: The poem has a consistent rhyme scheme with an open verse format.
The short sentences are juxtaposed with longer sentences.
9.How can you infer that the father wishes his son to remain at home with
him? (Extra )
Answer:
The father finds the son’s interests quite different. He is home bound,
whereas the son is on the look out for fresh avenues. He aspires for a world
of his own. The father wants him to return home even if he undergoes
losses by his extravagant ventures. He is willing to make up with him if he
agrees to live with him.
10. Why does the father say that he knows nothing of his son ? ( Extra )

Long questions (6marks )

Question 1: what sort of father-son relationship has been depicted in the
poem ‘Father to Son? ( Extra)
Answer:
The poem depicts a father-son relationship which exists in name only. The
two have been living together in the same house for years. Even then the
father does not understand his son. He confesses that he knows nothing of
his son. The bond of affection between them lie broken. They have become
formal just like strangers. Although the son resembles his father physically,
yet he had his own vision, dreams and aspiration. He is not home bound
and is not afraid to venture forth. The protective father is willing to forgive
him for incurring loss of material wealth provided he returns home. The
painful experience of lack of communication fills the father with utter
helplessness, anger and grief. His efforts to restore the relationship fail as
there is no response from the other side.
Question 2:How far has the poet succeeded in transforming a purely
personal matter to a universal experience prevalent in modern times?(
Extra )
Answer:
The poem begins on an autobiographical note. The speaker i.e., the father
recounts his own experience. He talks about the non-functional father-son
relationship. He neither understands his son nor knows anything about him.
In spite of living in the same house, the distance between father and son
has increased. There is lack of communication between them. They either
talk like strangers or silence surrounds them. The father is unable to share
what the son prefers to do. The distance has reached to sorrowful limit.
Even then the father is willing to shape a new love and build up a fresh
relationship. His grief takes the form of anger and they fail to reach any
compromise.
This maladjustment or growing break-up of relationships is typical of the
modem materialistic age.
Question 3 . The poem talks about the universal problem of generation
gap.Why does such a situation exist ? How can someone avoid such
confrontation? Express your views in 120-150 words ( extra )
Question 4. Write down the central idea of the poem “ Father to son “ ? (
Extra )
Ans;- The poem revolves around a conflict between father and son who are
in a serious communication gap. Though they live in the same house/globe,
they are like strangers to each other. The father broods over this and this
forms the centre of the poem. He introspects with an agrarian imagery
where he feels he has sown his seed in a stranger’s land that forbids him
from owning it. He admits that he cannot share what his son loves and
expects him to come back home like the Prodigal/lost son in the parable of
Jesus in the Bible. He is ready to forgive him and develop a new love from
sorrow. But his son feels anger growing out of sorrow and admits the vain
efforts of both in understanding each other.
Question 5.Why does the father feel he and his son are like strangers to
each other? ( extra)
Question 6. What kind of relationship does Father want to build up with his
son ? Why ?( Extra)
1..Read the extract and answer the questions that follow: ( 1 marks )
Yet have I killed
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.
Questions:1Name the poem and the poet.
Question : 2 Why does the father feel that the seed was sown in the land
that was not his?
(a) Because the son does not share any of the physical features of his
father
(b) Because the son shares the physical features of his father
© Because the son does not share any of the behavioural characteristics of
his father
(d) Because the son shares some of the behavioural characteristics of his
father
Question 3.What is wrong between father and son?
(a) Father and son do not resemble each other
(b) Father and son have a dispute related to their property
( C)Father likes his son but the son likes his mother
(d) Father and son behave like strangers and do not share any common
likes or dislikes.
Question 4.“Built to my design” means
(a) that his son does not look like him
(b) that his son looks like him as far as physical features are concerned
( c) that his son wears the same brand of clothes that he does
(d) that his son wears clothes designed by him
II. Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions
that follow. ( 1Marks )
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.
Question 1.Name the poem and the poet.
Question 2. What does ‘silence surrounds us’ mean here?
(a) It means the silence of the night .
(b) It means the silence in the house due to the switching off electrical
appliances
(C.) It means the silence in the house due to the demise of a loved one
(d) It means the silence due to no conversation happening between the
father and the son
Question 3.What does ‘I ' want?
(a) ‘I’ wants his son to study hard
(b) ‘I’ wants his son to not follow his wishes
(C). ‘I’wants his son to be realistic
(d) 'I’ wants his son to reciprocate forgiveness and mend the relationship
Question 4.
Find a word from the extract which means a person who spends money or
uses resources freely and recklessly.
(a) Returning
(b) Prodigal
(C)Prodigy
(d) Shaping
(iii) Read the extract given below and answer any two of the questions
that follow.( 1 marks )
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 on empty hand,
Longing for something to forgive.
Question 1.Name the poem and the poet.
Question 2.Who are ‘we’ in the extract?
(a) The father and his two sons
(b) The father and his friend’s son
(C.)The father and his son
(d) The uncle and his son
Question 3.Why must father and son live on the same globe and the same
land?
(a) To take care of each other
(b) To not let others to take disadvantage of them staying apart
© To make their life easy
(d) To rebuild their relationship
Question 4.What does ‘ empty hand’ signify?
(a) It signifies the poverty of the father
(b) It signifies the failure of the father and the son to understand each other
(c.)It signifies the poverty of the son
(d) It signifies the bad behaviour of the son.