NCERT Solutions for Class 11th English core chapter 13 – Father to Son

Exercises

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

Answer : The poem is an autobiographical poem, but its appeal is fairly universal. What is portrayed in the poem, is a common occurrence between any father and son. It is widely known as ‘generation gap’. There is always a difference between the view points of father and son. They have a physical bond, but, mentally they drift apart. Both, the father and the son want to come closer but lack in understanding to initiate the move.

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

Answer : The father helplessness is brought out very poignantly in the poem. The father and the son do not talk to each other and, so, only silence prevails. The father does not want his son to be separated from him, but it is in vain.

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

Answer : The following phrases and lines bring out the deep differences that separate both of them

  1. I don’t understand this child.
  2. I know nothing of him.
  3. We speak like strangers.
  4. What he loves, I can’t share.
  5. Silence surrounds us.
  6. He speaks, I can’t understand.

Question 4. Does the poem have a consistent rhyme?

Answer : Yes, the poem has a consistent rhyme scheme. Each stanza has six lines, which have the rhyme scheme- a, b, b, a, b, a.

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