Class Notes

The Tale of Melon City Summary The poem begins with a description about the King who ordered an arch to be built. When he rode down that arch, it hit his head and his crown fell down. It was because it was built too low. The King thought it was dishonorable and thus commanded the chief of builders to be hanged. The chief of builders put the blame on the workmen who in turn, blamed the bricks. The King orders for the execution of the mason who put the blame on the architect. The architect is brought to the Royal Court and indirectly blames the King for the wrongly constructed arch. The placid King now grows angry and demands for the wisest man in the country to be brought to the Royal Court. They brought the wisest man, who was so old that he could neither see nor walk. According to him, the arch must be hanged. When the arch is supposed to be executed, one of the ministers argue that it would be a shame to punish something that had touched their mighty King’s head. Everyone, along wit...

Father to Son By Elizabeth Jennings ‘Father to Son’ describes the troubled relationship between a father and his son. The poem talks about generation-gap between the father and the son and voices the father’s pain and helplessness in failing to understand his child. The father wants the same kind of bond with his son as he had when the son was a little child. But now, silence is what surrounds their relationship and there is a complete lack of communication between them. Though they have lived in the same house for years, they behave as strangers. The father sees his son as the ‘the prodigal son’ who would soon return to his father’s house which was once his very own. The father is unable to understand why in his grief he becomes angry with his son. As there is still love between both of them, they try to find out a way to resolve their differences but that seems futile. Elizabeth Jennings says that fathers and sons all over the world should learn to live on the same globe a...