Father Returning Home Poem Summary Class 12 English

Dilip Chitre's poem, Father Returning Home, is likely his most well-known creation. In this autobiographical poetry, the author uses an image of his father coming home from work to illustrate the loneliness and tiredness of an old man in contemporary society.

On an actual story, the poem is based on the poet's father, Purushottam Chitre, who lived through the 1957 relocation from Baroda to Mumbai. The poet's feelings for his father at a later time are expressed in the poem. Even though his father was the only source of income for the family, he became aware of how unappreciated and mistreated he was.

However, the poem "Father Returning Home" has meaning beyond autobiography. It is now a story about an elderly man who works hard for his family but lives a dull existence without someone to look out for him, talk to him, or comprehend his emotions.

The poem is divided into two sections, each with 12 lines. It is composed in free poetry without a particular meter or rhyme pattern. Additionally, the absence of rhythm represents the poet's father's uncared-for life. Although the language is straightforward and basic, it is rich with poetic elements like similes and symbolic metaphors. The poet-speaker describes his father's arrival at home and subsequent actions in first-person narration.

Dilip Chitre: the Poet

In the contemporary age, Dilip Purushottam Chitre was a renowned poet, critic, painter, and filmmaker from India. His career may have significantly benefited from his father's publication of the significant monthly Abhiruchi. Along with Ramesh Samarth and Arun Kolatkar, Dilip later co-authored and published a book titled Shabda. The 1960s Marathi "little magazine movement" was one of his significant creations.

Summary

Stanza 1

My father travels …… but he hurries onward.

The first thing the speaker does is describe his father's everyday schedule. The speaker's father takes the late-evening train home after a long day. He doesn't talk to the other passengers inside the train as he rides. The speaker's father's expressionless eyes and stillness reveal that he is lonely and enjoys being alone more than being with others.

His wet shirt and jeans make his task seem challenging. The father's dirty raincoat and worn-out bags reflect his poor emotional and physical health.

The speaker's father perfectly illustrates the contemporary guy trapped in a pointless lifestyle without any spiritual delight, burdened by a load of labor and bored of leading a life of monotony.

Stanza 2

Home again …… subcontinent through a narrow pass.

When the father returns home, he reads a book, has tea, and eats stale chapati. The speaker sees his father reflecting on the enigma of human life. Here, the phrase "man's estrangement from a man-made world" relates to the paradox of human life. Although everyone chooses to work each day and form their civilization, most people are far from the world they helped build.

He walks trembling and has gray hair on his wrists, and it feels like his body is also losing up on him. He is denied family joys because of an emotional penetrate between him and his children. Thus, the speaker's father is a worn-out person who lacks enjoyment and is burdened by the constancy of human life. The routine of life burdens him without any hope or joy.

Conclusion

This poem is about the father who may be compared to any male in modern society. His daily activities may be compared to any contemporary person leading a pointless existence while experiencing a spiritual crisis.

The poem portrays a hardworking father's midlife existential crisis and a critique of the modern man's conflict over his pointless existence. The contemporary man lives a life devoid of spiritual or emotional fulfillment, which reduces his enthusiasm and desire to take pleasure in life.