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Compare the ways in which the theme of ‘Parenthood’ is presented in Pat Barker’s
novel ‘Regeneration’ and Catherine Reilly’s poetry compilation ‘Scars Upon My
Heart’
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The
historical context of the First World War, that both these texts are set in, means that
parenthood was a difficult and often failing role that adults experienced, by either
loosing their children, or in some rare cases as we see in ‘Regeneration’, becoming
ashamed of their sons who have been shell shocked
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Four
poems with a parenthood theme in Catherine Reilly’s poetry selection stand out due to
the obvious loss of children some women who have written these poems have
experienced
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W
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R
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Pat Barker concentrates mainly on the idea of replacing missing father figures,
giving a post-war sense to the novel, which reflects the year of 1917 that it was set in,
whereas Catherine Reilly’s compilation studies the way of accepting loss of child and
parent
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This means
that the language does not make anything more palatable for the reader or less vivid
for the sake of weak nerves as one soon discovers at the end of Chapter Two, as the
reader is told about how a fictional character, David Burns, had ‘landed, head first, on
a German corpse, whose gas filled belly had ruptured on impact
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’ The theme of parenthood is evident even this
early on in Pat Barker’s novel, as River’s, a stammering character based upon the real
W
...
R
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This visual passage of

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dead bodies contrasts clearly to Agnes Grozier Herbertson’s description of a soldier
and how young he was, using language such as ‘With his bright, bright eyes and his
cheeks all red’ to create a clear picture of how ‘Fair and healthy and long of limb’
boys were, before events that Pat Barker has described start to morph them
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’ This is ironic as this poem, set at the beginning of the
war, is describing the school boy before the war turned him into the ‘fossilized
schoolboy’ that Pat Barker now sees in ‘Regeneration’ which was set from August
1917 until November 1917- towards the end of the war
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This simple structure
gives a sense of purity and bareness, perhaps reflecting how Agnes Grozier
Herbertson saw all boys before the war turned them into the ‘row of figures in
wheelchairs’ that Sarah Lumb discovers in ‘Regeneration’
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’ This poem demonstrates that even though most adults
have children, and during the war many will have lost theirs, ‘Little there seemed to
say indeed’ that could comfort a man ‘Old to have fathered a son so young’
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Parenthood is explored at several points throughout the novel, and many of these
points revolve around the relationships between the mute Billy Prior and his mother,
his father and Dr Rivers
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River’s relationship with Prior
throughout the novel can at every point reflect a father and son relationship, and it
becomes clear that the reason for this is that Billy Prior’s father has emotionally
bullied and abused his son while he was growing up and Prior instinctively needs a
father figure to guide and reassure him through his regeneration
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Language such as ‘stool-arsed jack’ to describe
his son, and doubt that his son’s mutism is real ‘comes when it’s convenient’ are mere
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demonstrations to the reader of what sort of parenthood Prior has experienced his
whole life
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This is an insight into the childhood Billy Prior had and therefore explains
the structure of the novel, and why Pat Barker has let the reader build up a negative
image of Prior because he is so stubborn, only to explain the character with this
passage in Chapter Six
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This poor relationship between Prior and his father is the worst type of
parenthood demonstrated in the book and this is why, in this regard, it represents the
antithesis to the poem ‘Reported Missing’
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The poem ‘Reported Missing’ has a steadfast form of one fourteen lined stanza, with
an enclosed rhyme scheme which gives the poem a slow and steady pace, and creates
the idea of a spoken speech, perhaps for a funeral
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The opening line ‘My thought shall never be that you are dead’
encompasses the whole idea of the poem; denial and love
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The poem uses imagery of ‘small boys
culling watercress’, creating the idea of peace of childish innocence, which the mother
obviously misses dearly ‘This heart would never beat if you were dead’
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River’s paternal father figure to Prior is therefore no longer a surprise after Chapter
Six, and is brought to light in Chapter 7 where Prior says in his usual childish tones ‘I
suppose most of them turn you into Daddy’
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Throughout the structure of the novel the sense of
parenthood grew stronger between River’s and his patient’s such as Dr Anderson,
Siegfried Sassoon, David Burns, Billy Prior and Wilfred Owen, proven when in
Chapter 18 during prior and River’s goodbye’s, Prior admits that he was probably
only alive because his mother restricted him so much in case his asthma killed him,
and tells River’s that, here you are doing exactly the same thing; saving him
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This need to fight against a mothers and protectors will, and still
ending up very close to River’s, demonstrates the gentleness and true need for
parenthood that Prior feels
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Letts puts forward of one soldier in her
poem ‘The Deserter’
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She tells how he
ran away ‘scared of any frightened child’, and even still got caught and shot for
cowardice
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One must feel that the poem and the
passage in the text of ‘Regeneration’ are very similar in the sense that Prior has
described the horror he felt, and the horror this man felt in the trenches is described
throughout the whole poem
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You hope
you won’t do either of those things yourself’ are very similar in describing the terror
and emotions a man would experience before going over the top
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Parenthood is key to both these texts as they both finish with
an ill informed parental figure; one mother incorrectly informed of her son’s hero
status ‘O well for her she does not know/ He lies in a deserter’s grave’ and a doctor
assuming his patients saw him to be one their side ‘This may come as a shock, Dr
Rivers, but I had been rather assuming that we were not
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’ It is
interesting to note that Siegfried Sassoon was sent to Dr
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This
makes the fact that River’s and Sassoon are so close even more unexpected, as
Sassoon had nothing to cure compared to the other patients
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That sets the tone of their relationship in a
sense, as River’s is from then on like a father; all knowing of things Sassoon doesn’t
even realise River’s knows
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’ Their relationship
reaches its peak in Chapter Twenty Three when Sassoon’s attitude towards River’s is
brutally summarised ‘And he virtually had no father and he’s put you in his father’s
place
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The parental figure River’s is to Sassoon is evident as Sassoon reassures River’s
he wont take unnecessary risks, and promises ‘I’ll keep in touch
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Even without words Barker manages
to express to the reader Rivers obvious sense of damp hearted spirit as he signs his
friend and patient away ‘Nov
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Discharged to duty
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Rivers knows
that he has influenced his patient’s lives and in particular Sassoon’s decision to go
back to fight in France and maybe Rivers regrets either Sassoon’s decision, or Rivers
influence
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The poem, written in the first person, talks
about how the mother or two son’s knows ‘The Abbey’s not where our Jack should
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lie’ and fears ‘Willie our youngest born/ might be lonesome laid
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’ Imagery is weak in this
poem, but the religious terminology and strong sense of trust in God is vivid
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The presentation on parenthood in this poem is so very unlike the
kind in ‘Regeneration’ as it gives a sense of wishing the children were still alive, and
the parent feeling guilty for not taking responsibility of her boys fate enough ‘I know/
He loved a sea that was grand and wild
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Schooled him in
it
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Throughout the novel of ‘Regeneration’ the theme of Parenthood is built up, explored
and encompassed into the main relationship of a paternal father figure and patient, Dr
W
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R
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Pat Barker makes it clear that through the
empathy Dr River’s shows each of his patients they slowly regenerate and therefore
sometimes River’s needs the understanding and gentleness that a woman has to
properly nurture his patients’ recovery
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Catherine Reilly’s collection of
women’s poetry obviously also explains the women’s ability to nurture, and in
particular the four poems selected here; ‘The Seed- Merchants Son’, ‘Reported
Missing’, ‘The Deserter’ and ‘Remembrance Day in the Dales’
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Parenthood, no matter
how trivial a role it may be seen today, was obviously a major, if albeit unfulfilling,
identity for parents during the war
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As one sees in ‘Regeneration’ every character’s relationship with their parents is
mentioned or scrutinised, and in the selected poems above each bases their existence
on the value of their sons or husbands, lost to the fight
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