Look at "Bookends" How does Harrison convey the nature of his relationship with his parents in the poem

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Look at "Bookends" How does Harrison convey the nature of his relationship with his parents in the poem?

In Bookends Harrison conveys a strained and stolid relationship between him and his father, which becomes more apparent after his mother's death.

Born in 1937, Harrison came from a lower class family and lived in Leeds. His mother was a housewife and his father miner then a bakery worker who failed the 11+ exams. Harrison on the other hand passed and won a scholarship into Leeds grammar school and went on to study classics at Leeds University.

Harrison's literary prowess resulted in a breakdown in the relationship he shared with his father due to his father's lack of understanding of his son's interest in literature. It was during this period that the mother held their relationship together, but when she passed away this ended and Harrison and his father became estranged.

Harrison begins the poem by describing the day of his mother's death; she was baking an apple pie, and then tells of how he and his father ate it.

"We chew it slowly that last apple pie"

They are savouring it because it is the last ever pie that the mother will make. The apple pie is used as a metaphor for the mother; it is sweet and soothing. The way in which Harrison portrays his mother (apple pie) indicates strongly that Harrison loved his mother very much and had a good relationship with her. This portrayal is increased a few lines later when Harrison quotes his mother.
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" You're like bookends, the pair of you"

This quote clearly demonstrates the mother's role within this family. The mother is what holds Harrison and his father together, keeps them talking and acting like father and son. She is like the glue that holds the pages of a book together; without the glue the pages would fall apart. The quote demonstrates the nature of the relationship between Harrison and his father; bookends have space between them, it is a great metaphor used because it conveys perfectly the relationship the father and son share. It also symbolises the ...

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