Father to Son Class 11 questions and answers

QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED

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

Ans: The poem starts with a personal story about a father and his son but also addresses a universal issue: the growing gap and communication problems between generations.

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

Ans: The father’s helplessness is shown through their lack of connection. Despite living together, they don’t communicate or share interests, and the father feels powerless to bond with his son.

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

Ans : The phrases showing the distance between father and son are:

“I don’t understand this child.”
“I know nothing of him.”
“We speak like strangers, with no understanding.”
“What he loves I can’t share.”
“Silence surrounds us.”
“I see him create and move in his own world.”

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

Ans : No, the poem doesn’t follow a consistent rhyme scheme. The first two stanzas use a pattern of ab ba ba, while the third and fourth stanzas have different patterns: abc aba and abbcb, respectively.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1: What does the speaker say about father-son relationship?

Ans: The father-son relationship is not working. The father doesn’t understand the son’s dreams or feelings. They talk like strangers and mostly remain silent with only formal exchanges.

Question 2: What do you think is responsible for the distance between father and son?

Ans: The distance between the father and son comes from the father’s lack of understanding. The father wants the son to stay close to home, while the son seeks new experiences and lives in his own world. The father struggles to adapt to these changes.

Question 3: Why, do you think, does the father appear so helpless?

Ans: The father seems helpless because he doesn’t understand his son’s interests or dreams. There’s no close bond between them; they mostly stay silent and talk like strangers. The father struggles to relate to his son’s plans and aspirations.

Question 4:
How can you infer that the father wishes his son to remain at home with him?

Ans: The father wants his son to stay home because he finds the son’s interests too different. While the son seeks new experiences, the father prefers him to return home, even if it means dealing with his mistakes. He is ready to reconcile if the son agrees to live with him.