My Father-in-law and I
My Father-in-law and I - meaning Summary
Unspoken Kinship Over Drinks
The poem sketches a restrained, ceremonious relationship between the speaker and his father-in-law. Meetings are marked by muted politeness, shared drinks and a recurrent funeral motif that frames their tacit solidarity and subdued melancholy. Small rituals—a silent shake, buying pints, guarded smiles—stand in for emotional intimacy. The poem observes how routine conviviality and mutual reticence create a fragile bond between two men who keep grief and affection unspoken.
Read Complete AnalysesMy father-in-law is a careworn man, And a silent man is he; But he summons a smile as well as he can Whenever he meets with me. The sign we make with a silent shake That speaks of the days gone by Like men who meet at a funeral My father-in-law and I. My father-in-law is a sober man (And a virtuous man, I think); But we spare a shilling whenever we can, And we both drop in for a drink. Our pints they fill, and we say, Ah, well! With the sound of the world-old sigh Like the drink that comes after a funeral My father-in-law and I. My father-in-law is a kindly man A domestic man is he. He tries to look cheerful as well as he can Whenever he meets with me. But we stand and think till the second drink In a silence that might imply That we’d both get over a funeral, My father-in-law and I.
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