Poetic Devices

Jennings uses simple language, but several devices deepen the poem's feeling of distance and sorrow.

Simile

A direct comparison using 'like' or 'as.' The father says, "We speak like strangers," comparing the father and son — who should be close — to unfamiliar people, which sharply captures their estrangement.

Metaphor

An implied comparison. In "have I killed / The seed I spent or sown it where / The land is his," the father's love and effort in raising the son are pictured as a seed planted in land, so upbringing becomes an act of sowing and growing.

Allusion

A reference to something outside the poem. Wishing the son were "prodigal, returning to / His father's house" alludes to the Biblical parable of the prodigal son, who returns home to a forgiving father.

Symbolism

An object standing for an idea. The "empty hand" that each puts out symbolises helplessness, the lack of anything to give, and at the same time a silent wish to reach out and be reconciled.

Enjambment

The running-on of a sentence from one line to the next without a pause, as in "I know / Nothing of him" and "I would have / Him prodigal." The lines flow past their endings, mirroring the father's continuous, troubled, unfinished thoughts.

Oxymoron / Paradox …