Sons

Themes
Youth, maturity, growing up, the passing of time, loss, freedom, memories


Content
This poem explores the relationship between father and adolescent son and the similarities that the father draws between his son and his own self at that age. The persona appears to be looking back on his youth with perspective and understands the reasons behind his son's behaviour. Soon the son will enter into maturity and the open possibilities that came with youth will disappear.


Analysis

• The title has no personal pronoun and is plural, making the poem universally applicable.
• Abse begins with the sibilance of "Sarcastic sons slam", making it seem as though the persona is laughing at his son's rash behaviour and finding his 'mood swings' amusing-making a joke out of them.
• The sound of the door slamming takes the persona back to his own childhood and the memories of "Cardiff outskirts where, once, captured acres played at being small tamed gardens". Nature has been forced to comply with humanity and become tame yet the word "played" implies that nature is not really being controlled- an imitation. This could also be seen to relate to how parents try to force their children into regimented lives and moulds of sensibility and though these children pretend to be complying, inside they are just as wild as ever and waiting to be liberated.
• The idea of change is also stressed in that the "grass" and "wild flowers" are being superseded and replaced ("supplanted") by "roads" as humanity tries to make anything unpredictable disappear and bow down to their power. Moreover, there is a sense of loss in that his son is "altering every day"- every day brings the son closer to being constrained like nature and changing beyond recognition. Though growing up is natural, parents feel sadness when watching their children become more independent.
• The persona states that "I {he} was like that"- the father is finding points of connection to make the relationship more comfortable and the idea of the cyclical nature of life is presented- inevitable. In adolescence, the persona felt like "those new semis that seemed ashamed"- out of place and awkward in his body. This simile highlights how people can feel isolated when growing up, just as the "semis" feel embarrassed by their appearance in contrast to the old historic buildings. People try to "whitewash" young people and change them into adults, however, it is just not that easy. The "frontier of Nowhere" represents teenagers no longer being children but also not yet having entered adulthood-they are on the cusp with no direction, aimless but with limitless possibilities. Adolescence is a series of duelling emotions and feelings- young people must act "prim" as expected of an older person but their emotions are also chaotic and they act "brash". The juxtaposition of "prim" and "brash" portrays a teenager's changing moods and emotions while "Nowhere" is given a capital "N", giving the impression that it is an actual place that everyone has once visited. Moreover, Abse's use of a question mark at the end of this stanza connotes the uncertainty of adolescence.
• Moving into the third stanza, the persona emphasises their feeling of not belonging as they are no longer in "Cardiff" where they grew up. They are miles away in "London" yet the action of his son slamming the door is so familiar that it takes him back to his teenage years in his home town- this statement is neither sarcastic nor negative but also not positive either. A child-like, imaginative game is again presented through the persona remembering how they believed that "ruins where ghosts abide" were present at night. The continuing metaphor of houses for youth could be seen to imply that in youth, the persona was reclusive and scared of what was to come.
• The statement that "spreading lamps assert themselves too early" is symbolic of the growing light of young people who are just finding their identity but are growing up too quickly. This, however, cannot be helped- people encourage this to happen.
• Another use of juxtapositions appears with "half town, half countryside"- adolescents feel like two different people and are "awkward" with this. The "countryside" likely represents the free and spirited side of young people while the "city" represents social expectation and the need to mature to earn a living-constrained. There are two contrasting worlds of youth and adulthood and a person can never have both for long before having to mature.
• In the fifth stanza, the message becomes more directly aimed at the persona's son and acts as a warning. The emphatic and understanding tone of "I love you for it" reinforces the good relationship between father and son while the father admits that his son will feel "hesitant" in "adult rooms"- these are not literal rooms but adult situations where young people are unsure how to act. The word "quite" underlines this awkwardness as the word is placed in an odd position in the sentence.
• It is clear that Abse's reason for writing this poem was regret at his son growing up "Too soon". "Maturity will switch off your night" as the imagination is allowed to wander no more and the bright light inside of young people is forced to go out. The adult world stifles people and forces them to put down "roots" which bind them. Abse suggests that when we are young, we are "nameless" and that by becoming an adult, we gain an identity but that this identity is "wrongly named"- people cannot be defined simply by a name, they are always changing. The ending oxymoron of "darkness bright" implies that the father and son are different people and won't follow the exact same routes or it could mean that there will always be a clash of personality's inside of people. Alternatively, it could mean that maturity changes young people so much that they become no longer recognisable and Abse uses enjambment to show hesitance on the part of the persona at delivering the fear-inspiring message.
• Throughout this poem, Abse likens the idea of growing up to nature giving way to industrialisation and civilisation. Maturity is seen as the end result of cultivation and taming and young people are constantly pressured to fit into society's expectations- adulthood extinguishes the untamed light inside of people.

Links to Larkin
Themes- 'Dockery and Son'- Both poems focus on the significance of having a son for fathers and the idea that this knowledge causes people to look back on their own youth. Larkin, at a young age, did not know what he wanted to do with his life and has subsequently become stifled by maturity while Dockery "had taken stock/Of what he wanted" and achieved this.
'Send No Money'- A look at how the "hail of occurrence clobber[s] life out" and how youth can be wasted on imagination. Maturity changes young people and they become more cynical.
'Here'- Nature is forced to comply with humanity but there are areas where it roams free like young people. Teenagers are those areas of freedom for nature while industrialisation brings maturity.
'Love Songs in Age'- Both this poem and Abse's focus on looking back at better times before reality struck along with knowledge. That "unfailing sense of being young" was mistaken and adulthood had struck too soon.
'Reference Back'- family relationships and how parents and their children can become distanced with time. Abse fears his son growing up and leaving him behind, just as the relationship between mother and son has become strained in Larkin's poem without the father.
'A Study of Reading Habits'-Growing up replaces imagination with sad reality and young people lose the ability to relate to the free and wild heroes but instead become the "chap" who "keeps the store".
'The Importance of Elsewhere'- the idea of feeling awkward and hesitant in something so familiar, the sense of belonging in a place that is unfamiliar- in adulthood, young people finally know how they should act
'First Sight'- Growing up to something unknown and frightening which will surprise and delight.


Tone- Pensive-'Love Songs in Age', 'Home is so Sad', 'Dockery and Son'
          Affectionate- 'Broadcast', 'For Sidney Bechet'
          Humorous- 'A Study of Reading Habits'
          Worrisome- 'Nothing To Be Said', 'MCMXIV', 'Dockery and Son'


Technique- The alliteration of "dirty dogs" in 'A Study of Reading Habits' is a joke at the expense of youth and adolescent behaviour and beliefs, just as "Sarcastic son slams" is.
In 'Broadcast', the oxymoron of "giant whispering" suggest that the noise the persona hears over the radio is confusing and he feels distanced from his love. This is similar to the oxymoron of "darkness bright", showing the fear that the persona has concerning whether they can connect with their son once he has matured. In 'Love Songs in Age', the oxymoron of "frank submissive" also shows the confusing nature of love and how things can change.
The use of the rhetorical question to imply uncertainty is also mirrored in 'Self's the Man'.