Farther

• Ambiguous title. A homophone "father" - the father-son relationship and the distance they go together to resolve problems. Two men scaling a hill - going further together or becoming further apart?
• "we climbed the Skirrid again"

  "again" suggests it is an attempt to reconnect. Myth that the cleft in the hill was created by God due to grief of Jesus' crucifixion - father-son relationship.
• "we stopped there at an altar of rock and rested" 


  Religious symbolism - shared reverence for nature. Father and son link to God and Jesus.
• "your breath reaching me, short and sharp and solitary"


  Sibilance, the rasp of his breath suggests fragility - his father's decline. Polysyndetic list emphasises his father's ageing, declining health.
• "I felt the tipping of the scales of us/the intersection of our ages"


  Key idea in his family poetry - physical journey acts as a mechanism for their relationship.
• "shared the shock of a country unrolled before us" "together against the view"


  Awe - an unchanging element in their relationship.
• "that with every step apart, I'm another closer to you"


  Enigmatic, complicated relationship. Link to reestablished relationship - the significance of 'Skirrid'.