Look at "Bookends" How does Harrison convey the nature of his relationship with his parents in the poem
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.
" 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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" 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 gap between them. Bookends have books between them, just like Harrison and his father.
Harrison goes on to compare himself and his father,
" The 'scholar' me, you worn out on poor pay"
It demonstrates the difference between them. The father described as 'worn out', the father has had laborious jobs all his life where he has had to work hard to make a living. Harrison the 'scholar' has not to do physical work because he uses his mind and intelligence to work. This
difference actually separates Harrison and his father by class, in becoming an intellectual Harrison has become middle class and not lower class like his family.
This becomes very apparent in bookends part two. This part of the poem is about Harrison and his father writing the words to be put on the mother's gravestone. Harrison tells of how the gravestone is nearly full and then cuts into a quote.
"Come on, it's not as if we're wanting verse. It's not as if we're wanting a whole sonnet!"
The father is frustrated that they are having trouble working out what to write on the headstone and takes it out on Harrison. He is making references to sonnets and verse, both forms of literature, referring to Harrison's education and making a point of it.
In the next stanza Harrison describes the state of the relationship between the two. They need to drink alcohol before they are able to talk openly and communicate. Harrison goes on to say how his father had always been a clumsy talker but not to clumsy that he can't still 'cut'. Harrison is referring to his father's ability to hurt and offend using words; Harrison then demonstrates this with a quote.
"You're supposed to be the bright boy at description and you can't tell them what the fuck to put!"
Again the father has become frustrated and yet again referred to Harrison's education calling him 'the bright boy at description'. This is the father's frustration coming to a head; he is upset about his son's difference to him, the education and class, and after all the education and literature his son has experienced he cannot think what to put on the mother's gravestone. This is also painful for Harrison because he knows he can write very well but when it comes to thinking if words to put on his mother's gravestone he cannot find them because he is upset and grieving for his dead mother.
Next in the poem there is a stand-alone line.
"I've got to find the right words on my own."
The very last few lines of the poem are after the death on Harrison's father. In the last stanza of the poem Harrison describes the words his father had written on an envelope, he uses words such as "scrawling, mis-spelt, and mawkish," To highlight his father's bad literacy skills. But in the last line Harrison realises that,
"I can't squeeze more love onto their stone."
What Harrison is saying is that despite his father's ways and the way that father and son were when together, Harrison realises that his father was
full of love for the mother and for Harrison himself, and for his faults Harrison's father was a loving man.
Throughout the poem Harrison uses mainly monosyllabic, blunt sounding words but mixes them with a variety of short, sharp words. The way in which Harrison has written the poem 'Bookends' i.e. the language he has used, reflects his working, middle class roots, and then his middle class education and life. This makes the poem seem much more personal and helps the audience to identify with Harrison and the poem 'Bookends'.
Throughout the poem, both in parts one and two, Harrison uses the a,b,a,b, rhyming scheme using the last words at the end of each line. This is subtle but gives the poem sense of flow and rhythm, thus making 'bookends' an effective and emotive poem.