6. Father Returning Home
The
poem is based on the idea of man’s estrangement from in the man-made world.
This world is full of hurry and worry. Nobody has the time to take interest in
others especially the senior citizens. The poem gives us the picture of a sad
old man. He travels to work by a local train every day in Mumbai. His isolation
is seen in his inability to have dialogue with his family or friends. He feels
uneasy in his present. He seeks consolation in the world of the past or in the
world of his dreams.
Father
Returning Home BY- Dilip Chitre
• This is a very
beautiful poem by Dilip Chitre. It gives us a very good message. In modern
life, man is an alien in his own family. Old people feel lonely in their own
houses. Children do not have time for their parents.
His
eyes dimmed by age
fade
homeward through the humid monsoon night.
Now
I can see him getting off the train
Like
a word dropped from a long sentence.
He
hurries across the length of the grey platform.
Crosses
the railway tine, enters the lane
Questions:
1. Name the poet.
1.
The name of the poet is Dilip Chitre.
2. Which line in the poem describes
father's irrelevance to the wain?
2.
The line is 'like a word dropped from a sentence.
3. Write two reasons for father's eves
being dimmed.
3.
(a) because of old age.
(b)
because of the humid monsoon night.
4.
Where does father go after getting of the train?
4.
After getting off the train, he hurries across the dark platform.
His
sullen children have often refused to share
Jokes
and secrets with hint He will now go to sleep
Listening
to the static on the radio, dreaming
Of
his ancestors and grandchildren, thinking
Of
nomads entering a subcontinent through a narrow pass.
Questions:
1. Name the-poet.
1.
The name of the poet is Dilip Chitre.
2. What does he do after being written off
by his children?
2.
He goes to sleep listening to the noises on the radio.
3. How can you, say that his dream minors
that the old man is either thinking about his past or his future?
3.
It is because he dreams of his ancestors and grandchildren.
4. Draw a pen portrait of poet's father.
4.
The poet's father is an old but alienated person. He is lonely and friendless.
He lives in his own world.
What
if the bread
Be
bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To
meet the flints? At least it may be said
'Because
the way is short, I thank thee, God.'
Questions:
1. Name the poet.
1.
The two complaints are:
(a)
the bread is bitter in the inn.
(b)
the unshod feet have to walk on hard stones.
2. What are the two complaints in the above
lines?
2.
Optimistic.
3. The poet asks us to be in life.
(careful, alert, optimistic)
3.
(b) Walking barefoot on a stony path.
4……..
and thou unshod To meet the flints ? .... means:
(a) Meeting people during the journey.
(b) Walking barefoot on a stony path.
4.
The name of the poet is Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
