POEM: 2
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Stephen Spender
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INTERPRETATION
& ANALYSIS
The poem is
about social injustice and class inequalities. The poem is divided into four
stanzas. In the first three stanzas, the poet develops the idea and suggests
a solution in the final stanza.In the first stanza the poet says that the
children of slums are away from fresh atmospheric air and though living on
the outskirts of city, the glitzy life there is not for them. They are
malnourished and unwanted by the society. They are treated like outcastes and
people don’t have any sympathy or empathy for them. In the age when there
should be a glow on one’s face, their faces are pale and their hair all
disheveled as they can’t afford to bother about their looks. The tall girl in
the class suggests how even in a tender age when the children should be
carefree and happy, they are burdened with problems and responsibilities.
They are lean and thin like a paper and always looking for something like a
rat looking for something to nibble at. They get twisted bones in
inheritance. They don’t have proper development because of lack of food. They
suffer from the diseases which happen due to malnourishment and passed on
from generation to generation. But in spite of all the problems and miseries,
there are some like ‘unnoted, sweet and young’ who putting aside all the gloom
and suffering, can enjoy their life; can dream of something different.
In the
second stanza, the poet describes the poor infrastructure of the class. The
walls are discolored and dull displaying the things they got in donation.
There is a Shakespeare’s head, a picture showing day-break without clouds, a
picture of multi-storey buildings and scenery of Tyrolese valley full of
beautiful flowers and plants symbolizing natural beauty. But all these things
are meaningless for them as they are not destined to enjoy these pleasures
nor they are taught about any such thing. There is a map as well which tells
the slum children about a different world but the children don’t understand
the world shown in the map as they are perhaps never taught about that. Their
world is what they see through their windows because that is the world they
know; they understand; they recognize and they are familiar with. But even in
that world their future is full of uncertainty. They live in narrow lanes
without any hope of betterment, away from the natural beauty and even
education is not meant for them.
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In the
third stanza the poet talks of the poor physical frame of the slum children
and the futility of keeping Shakespeare and map in the class. According to
the poet, both Shakespeare and the map are examples of material possessions
and riches, pleasures and luxuries. Shakespeare has always written about
elite class people and the map denotes the vast world out there but getting
familiar with the material aspects of life, kindle desires in their heart and
as there is no chance of their fulfillment, they adopt wrong ways. That’s why
Shakespeare is wicked and map a bad example for the children living in the
narrow hutments whose whole life is full of darkness. They live on and are
surrounded by the heap of garbage with lean and emaciated body showing all
bones which appear like glass pieces fitted in steel rims or bottle pieces
scattered on stone. The poet says that when they are destined to live and die
in the slum what is the use of keeping the map in the class. It is better to
make slum in place of the map.
In the last
stanza the poet tries to present the solution of the problem presented in the
poem. The poet says that when somebody like a governor, inspector or visitor
visits the school, the map becomes their window i.e. they are taught but
otherwise the windows remain shut upon them i.e. they are not taught.
Therefore, the poet wants them the break all the shackles; come out of their
confinements and fill the town with their presence. The world of nature is
for them as well. They should also be free to enjoy nature and most
importantly, they should study because only they can create history who can
glow like the sun with the light of knowledge.
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GLOSSARY
Gusty - Windy, Stormy
Stunted - Small, Undersized
Heir - Successor, Inheritor
Gnarled - Twisted, Contorted
Slyly - Craftily, Trickily
Cramped - Confined, Narrow
Azure - Blue, Cerulean
Catacombs - Tomb, Underground cemetery
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their
pallor:
1. Which figure of speech has been used in
the first line?
Ans: Repetition
2. Why have the children been compared
with rootless weeds?
Ans: Just
as a rootless plant won’t get nutrition enough to survive, in the same way the
children are mal-nourished. They don’t get sufficient to eat and roam about
here and there aimlessly. Moreover, just as weeds are unwanted plants, these
children are treated like outcaste.
3. What does the poet mean by ‘gusty
waves’?
Ans: The
gusty waves mean the fresh atmospheric air.
4. Mention the figure of speech in“Like
rootless weeds” .
Ans: Simile
The tall girl with her weighed-down head.
The paper-
Seeming boy with rat’s eyes. The
stunted unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a
father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson from his desk.
1. Why does the tall girl have a weighed
down head?
Ans: The
image of the tall girl suggests that the children are burdened with problems.
In the tender age when they should be carefree, playing and enjoying life, they
are exhausted and having a miserable life.
2. What
does the poet mean by ‘paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes’?
Ans: According
to the poet, the children are very lean and lanky like a paper and they are
always looking for something just like a rat which is always looking for
something to nibble at.
3. Why
have the children been called ‘unlucky heir’?
Ans: The
children have been called unlucky heir because generally people get property
and wealth in legacy but here the children get diseases as their legacy. The
diseases which happen due to malnourishment are passed on from generation to
generation.
At the back of the dim class, one unnoted sweet and young
His eyes live in a dream of squirrel’s game, in the tree
room,
Other than this.
1. Why is the class dim?
Ans: The
class is dim because there might not be proper lighting facility.
2. Why
is the child unnoted?
Ans: The
child is unnoted because there is no proper lighting in the class. Moreover,
the teachers and the authorities might not be bothered about the children.
3. “His
eyes live in a dream of squirrel’s game…” Explain.
Ans: The
boy is enjoying the squirrel’s game. He is happy watching the squirrel hop in
and hop out of the tree room. To him, the game symbolizes something which has
the power to keep him away from the drudgeries of life.
On sour cream walls donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley.
1. Why are the walls sour cream?
Ans: The
walls are sour cream because they might not have been painted for a long time.
It might be due to lack of fund or lack of carefulness.
2. What
is hanging on the walls?
Ans: The
things they got in donation are hanging there on the walls in the classroom.
3. How
significant the things in the classroom are?
Ans: The
things in the classroom are insignificant and irrelevant because they stand
quite in contrast to the conditions of the children. They, instead of giving
hope, only torment the children.
4. What
is Tyrolese valley symbolic of?
Ans: Tyrolese
valley is symbolic of natural beauty full of beautiful plants and flowers.
Open-handed map awarding the world it’s world. And yet,
for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future is painted with a fog.
1. What does the poet mean by ‘open handed
map’?
Ans: An
open-handed map is a map drawn by somebody with all its dimensions and showing
all the territories.
2. What
is the world for the children?
Ans: The
windows are their world for the children.
3. Why
is the map not a world for the children?
Ans: The
map is not the world for the children because they don’t understand the world
shown in that. What they understand and recognize is the world they live in
i.e. the slum.
4. Why
is their future painted with fog?
Ans: Their
future is painted with a fog as there is no certainity in their lives.
Surely Shakespeare is wicked and map a bad example.
With ships and son and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog till endless night?
1. Why has Shakespeare been called wicked?
Ans: Shakespeare
has been called wicked because going through his works, will kindle desires in
the heart of the slum children and being unable to fulfil those desires, they
adopt wrong means to achieve them.
2. What
do ships and son and love symbolize?
Ans: They
symbolize comforts, luxuries, possessions and riches in the material world.
3. Which
is the figure of speech used in the last line?
Ans: Hyperbole
On their slag heap, these children wear skins peeped
through by bones
And spectacles of steel with mended glass,
Like bottle bits on stones.
1. What is the slag heap?
Ans: This
expression refers to the poor physique of the children. Their body seems to be
a heap of garbage.
2. “Spectacles
of steel with mended glass.” Explain.
Ans: The
poet has used this expression to present the poor physique of the slum
children. Their body is all twisted and uneven just as in the frame of
spectacle if one tries to fit in broken pieces of glass, they won’t fit in
properly.
3. Name
the figure of speech in the last line.
Ans: Simile
Unless governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs.
1. What do the governor, inspector and
visitor symbolize?
Ans: They
symbolize hope to the slum children.
2. How
does the map become window?
Ans: The
map becomes their window as when the people like governor, inspector or visitor
come, the light of knowledge falls upon them through the map i.e. they are
taught.
3. Why have the windows been compared with
catacombs?
Ans: The
windows have been compared with catacombs because just as no light can enter
the catacombs, in the same way when the authorities are gone or if they make no
efforts for the slum children, they are not taught and darkness lingers in
their lives.
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields and make their
world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
1. What should be broken?
Ans: The
shackles of social restrictions and prejudices imposed upon the slum children
should be broken.
2. Who can create history?
Ans: Only
those who can glow like the sun with the light of knowledge can create history.
3. What
does the poet mean by, “Let their tongues run naked into books…”
Ans: It
means that they should be allowed to study and be educated.
SHORT
ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
1. What
does the poet mean by ‘like rootless weeds’?
Ans: The
poet means that as the weeds are unwanted plants, the slum children are also unwanted by the society. People don’t like
them and they are treated like outcaste. Besides,
the poet uses the term rootless to say just as a rootless plant doesn’t get sufficient nutrient and so wither and
wilt, in the same way these children don’t get sufficient
to eat.
2. “Open-handed
map awarding the world its world.” Paraphrase.
Ans: Here
open-handed map is a map drawn by somebody showing all the territories with all
its dimensions and suggesting that there is more for them to know and explore.
It tells the children that where they live and what they know is not the world
rather it is very vast.
3. Why does the poet call Shakespeare
wicked?
Ans: The
poet calls Shakespeare wicked because Shakespeare has written only about royal
class people so going through his works and knowing about material pleasures
and luxuries kindle unattainable desires in their hearts leading them to adopt
wrong means to fulfill those desires.
4. Explain “spectacles of steel with
mended glass.”
Ans: It
throws light on the physical condition of the slum children. Their body appears
like broken glass pieces fitted into the steel rim of a pair of spectacles,
some bones protruding out and some inwards. It is a metaphor of their physique.
5. What is “Like bottle bottle bits on
stone.” Which is thefigure of speech ?
Ans: The
poet has used simile in this line. He compares the physical condition with the
pieces of bottle scattered on some stone.
6. What does the poet suggest through
“stars of words”?
Ans: Here
“stars of words” mean education and the poet is trying to convey that even
education is not in the destiny of the slum children.
7. Why
does the poet compare windows with catacombs?
Ans: Catacombs
are tombs or cemetery. The poet makes such a comparison because as no light
enters the grave in the same way when nobody visits the school the window of
knowledge is shut upon them i.e. they are not taught.
8. “For lives that slyly turn into cramped
holes from fog till endless night?” Whose lives the poet is talking about? What
does the poet intend?
Ans: The
poet is talking about the children who live in slums. The poet intends to say
that the children furtively come in and go out of their cramped hutments
escaping the notice of people out of embarrassment and out of fear. For them
even the morning is foggy i.e. it seems their whole life is wrapped in endless
darkness.
9. “Let their tongues run naked into white
and green leaves open.” Explain.
Ans: The
poet wants the slum children to be educated because that is the only way out of
their misery. Until they study hard there can never be any betterment in their
lives. Education is entitled to all and they should avail their right.
10. Why
does the poet ask the map to be blotted with slum?
Ans: The
poet asks the map to be blotted with slum because the children don’t understand
the map hanging in the classroom as they are never taught. What they understand
is their world and that is the slum where they are born; they grow up and die.
PREVIOUS YEARS' QUESTIONS
(2018) Read the extract
given below and answer the questions that follow? [4 Marks]
…On their slag heap these children
wear skins peeped through by bones and
spectacles of steel
with
mended glass like bottle bits on stone.
(a) Name
the poet and the poem.
(b) Explain
: ‘slag heap’.
(c) What
future awaits these children?
(d) Name
the figure of speech in the third line?
(2017) Read the extract given below
and answer the questions that follow? [4
Marks]
Far far from gusty waves these
children’s faces
Like
rootless weeds; their hair torn around pallor
The
tall girl with her weighed-down head…
(a) Who
are these children?
(b) Which
figure of speech has been used in the first two lines?
(c) Why
is the tall girl’s head weighed-down?
(d) What
does the word ‘pallor’ mean?
(2016) How is Shakespeare wicked and map a bad
example?
(2015) Read the extract given
below and answer the questions that follow? [4
Marks]
On
their slag heap, these children
Wear
skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With
mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
(a)
Who are these children?
(b)
What is their slag heap?
(c)
Why are their bones peeping through their skins?
(d)
What does 'with mended glass' mean?
(2014) Read the extract given below and answer the
questions that follow? [4 Marks]
And
yet, for these
Children, these
windows, not this map, their world.
Where all their
future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street
sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from
rivers, capes, and stars of words.
(a)
Who are the 'children' referred to here?
(b)
Which is their world?
(c)
How is their life different from that of other children?
(2013) Read the extract given below and answer the
questions that follow? [3 Marks]
The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted
bones, reciting a father's gnarled disease,
His lesson,
from this desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted,
sweet, and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel's
game, in tree room, other than this
(a)
Who is the 'unlucky heir' ?
(b)
What will he inherit?
(c)
Who is sitting at the back of the dim class?
