Chapter 5 – Father to Son Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Hornbill Poem)

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

Answer:
‘Generation gap’, as termed now, is a fairly universal phenomenon. Children in their effort to keep abreast with changing values lose track of their roots. They find the values, they inherit from their parents, overbearing. Parents are protective and try to guard them from making mistakes. This leads to a clash of ideologies.

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

Answer:
This poem is a lament of the father because the chasm between his son and him has grown over the years. He recalls moments of his son as a child and laments how he has become a stranger to him. Their preferences and ideologies have alienated them. He wishes to rebuild their relationship and start afresh.

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

Answer:
I do not understand this child
I know Nothing of him,
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.
Yet what he loves I cannot share.
Silence surrounds us.
He speaks: I cannot understand
We each put out an empty hand

Question 4.
Does the poem have a consistent rhyme scheme?

Answer:
Yes the poem does have a consistent rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is ABBABA.
Extra Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What is the father’s complaint ?

Answer:
The father complains that his son doesn’t heed his advice, and lives life on his own terms. They have become strangers, though they live under the same roof . Father feels helpless.

Question 2.
Does the father want to mend the fences and make peace with his son ? What does he long for ?

Answer:
Father is more tense than the son. He cannot make out where he failed in the upbringing of his son. He wants the son to carry forward the family traditions rather than revolt and live life on his own terms. He is willing to forgive and forget for peace in the family.

Question 3.
Can you suggest a solution to the clash between father and son ?

Answer:
Yes, the only solution to this problem is better understanding and the spirit of give and take. Youngsters are bom rebels. They break rules and laws in a fighting mood. The father wants to impose his will and authority on the children that leads to conflict. Both should mend their ways.

Question 4.
Do you notice a change in the father’s tone in the last stanza ?

Answer:
Yes, the father’s tone in the last stanza is one of reconciliation or compromise. He admits that their relation is too close and delicate to be broken. He regrets his anger. He is ready to put out his hand of friendship and to forgive.

Question 5.
Bring out the underlying message of the poem Father to Son. Write a short note on the central idea of the Elizabeth Jenning’s poem.

Answer:
The poem Father to Son discusses not a personal experience or problem It is universal. All the elders scold the youngsters for being disobedient and obstinate. They don’t try to understand the needs of the children. Their hardened attitude creates disaffection in the young minds. Though living for years together in the same house, father and son become strangers. Conflict will make both of them unhappy. They had better come to terms in a spirit of give and take.