An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum-Qs-ans- Stephen Spender

 2.       An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Stephen Spender

(Notes Prepared by Shish Pal Chauhan)

Summary: ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’

          The children of the elementary school of a slum area live miserable life. Their faces are pale. Their bodies are weak and ill-fed. They suffer from poverty, hunger, filth, and diseases. The pictures hung on the walls of the classroom are meaningless to them. Their world is small and limited. They see this world through the windows of their classroom. It is far from the rivers, capes and stars of the world. The poet calls Shakespeare’s bust wicked and the map a bad example. These may corrupt and tempt them to steal. In the end, the poet makes an appeal to the civilized world to improve the lot of those poor children. They should be taken out of poverty and slum. Only then education will be meaningful to them.

Short Ans/questions :

Q.1    How does the poet describe the faces of the children in the classroom?

Ans.   The poet says that the faces of the slum children are pale. Their hair is untidy and hung over their pale face like rootless weeds.

Q.2    How does the poet describe some of the children in the classroom?

Ans.   First, the poet describes a tall girl. She is sitting with her head bent down. Then he describes a boy who is very weak - as thin as a paper. His eyes are like those of a rat. Another boy has twisted bones Lastly, at the back of all,  a sweet little boy is sitting. His eyes are dreamy.

Q.3    What is there on the walls of the classroom?

Ans.   There are some donated pictures on the walls. These are of Shakespeare’s head (bust), of cloudless dawn, a cathedral (church’s) dome, and a flowery valley. There is also a map of the world.

Q.4    What does the poet say about the ‘open-handed map’?

Ans    It is called open-handed because it shows all the seas and lands of the world But the poet says that the world of these poor children is very small.

Q.5    What does the poet say about the world of the poor children?

Ans.   The world of poor children is very small. They see their limited world from the windows of their classroom. It is just a narrow street, far from the open world of rivers, capes, and golden sands. It is blocked in their foggy streets.

Q.6    Why does the poet say that ‘Shakespeare is wicked’?

Ans.   The pictures, the map, and Shakespeare’s bust are meaningless for the poor children of the slum. Shakespeare has been called wicked because it will corrupt them. They will be tempted to steal it.

Q.7    What has the map been said to be ‘a bad example’?

Ans.   The map of the world for the poor children is also meaningless. They live in a small world, which has only hunger, poverty, dirt, a disease for them. ‘The open-handed map’ for them is quite useless.

Q.8    How has the life of children living in slums been described?

Ans.   The homes of these poor children are very small. They are weak and skinny as they suffer from poverty and hunger. Their life is miserable.

Q.9    What does the poet want the governor, the inspector, and the visitor to do?

Ans.   The poet wishes that these people should come forward to improve the condition of the poor children. They should be taken out of the slum in which they live. They should be taken in a world where they can study and play in the lap of nature.

Q.10  What message does Stephen Spender want to convey in his poem ‘An Elementary School classroom in a slum’?

Ans.   The poet gives a message to the governments and the people of all countries that no child should live a miserable life. They should be taken out of poverty and slum. Then the education will have some meaning to them.

For Brilliant Students: Some more Qs & Ans.

Q1. Why did the poet call the children’s faces like ‘rootless weeds’?

 Ans. The rootless weeds become yellow in colour as they become dead. So the poet used the phrase ‘rootless weeds’ to describe the paleness on the children’s faces because they are cut off from the mainstream of life.

 Q2. What poetic device has the poet used in the line “Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor.”

 Ans. The poet has used a simile.

 Q3. What has been said about the tall girl?

 Ans. The tall girl has been described with her head bent because it was too heavy for the girl’s neck to bear its weight.

 Q4. How has the poet called the boy ‘paper-seeming’?

 Ans. The poet has called the boy paper-seeming because it was ill-fed and weak.

 Q5.Which poetic device has been used to describe the boy in the line “The paper-seeming boy, with rat's eyes.”

 Ans. Simile and metaphor. “The paper-seeming …boy” is a simile and ‘with rat’s eye’ is a metaphor that also creates imagery.

Q6.Explain: ‘unlucky heir of twisted bones’

 Ans. The boy is unlucky because he has inherited a disease (arthritis-type)  from his father. That is why his bones are not normal. These are twisted.

Q7.Why do you think the class was dim?

 Ans. There was no proper light inside the classroom because the last boy was not visible to the poet.

Q 8. Who was sitting at the back of the class?

  Ans. A charming boy having dreamy eyes was sitting at the back of the class. 

Q9.What was the little one dreaming of?

 Ans. He was dreaming of a squirrel’s game.

 Q10. Explain the words: ‘other than this’

Ans. The boy wished to have a room like that of a squirrel to have the freedom to play like it. He did not like his classroom.

Q11.What type of walls has been referred to in these lines?

 Ans. The walls are dirty and give out a foul smell like that of sour cream.

 Q12.What is meant by ‘sour cream walls’?

 Ans. The walls gave out a foul smell like that of sour ice cream. Ice cream becomes sour due to heat. There was suffocation in the classroom. So suffocation and dampness of the walls were creating a foul smell inside the room. 

Q13.What donations are there on the walls?

Ans. The donations are the pictures like the scenery of dawn without clouds, a picture of the main church of a district, of the Austrian Tyrol valley with bell-shaped flowers and the map of the world, Shakespeare’s head, etc.

Q14.Why has the map been called to be ‘open-handed’?

 Ans. The map has been drawn with generosity describing the world outside the ignored world of the children of the slum.

 Q15.What does the map on the wall signify?

Ans. The map presents a sharp contrast to the world of the children living in the slum areas.

 Q16.What kind of their future is seen by the poet?

 Ans. Their future is dark in which there is no ray of hope for the bright world in the near future.  

 Q17. What poetic device has been used in “Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.”

  Ans. Alliteration has been used here.

 Q18.Why has the map been called ‘a bad example’ by the poet?

 Ans. The map shown in the picture may be tempting to the children. It shows a very attractive world to them. It produces a sharp contrast to the world they are living in.

Q19.‘Tempting them to steal.’ What does the word ‘them’ refer to?

 Ans. ‘Them’ refer to the children living in slum area.

 Q20.What kind of their life do they live?

 Ans. They live a very miserable life.

 Q21.Why is Shakespeare described as wicked?

 Ans. He may tempt them for stealing.

 Q22. Write the synonyms of the words:

 (i) wicked (ii) slyly

 Ans. (i) bad, evil (ii) cautiously, clandestinely

Q23.Explain: ‘From fog to endless night.’

 Ans. Their days are full of fog. It means their future is dim and their days are foggy. Their nights are endless because they do not sleep properly. Here the nights may symbolize sufferings for them. These are endless as there is no ray of hope for their betterment in near future,

    

Stanza 1 - Far far from gusty waves ........ from his desk

Q.1    Name the poet and the poem.

Ans.   The poet is Stephen Spender. The poem is ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum”

Q.2    How are the children’s faces described here?

Ans.   i) Their faces looked very pale

     ii) Their untidy hair hung around their pale faces.

     iii) Their untidy hair looked like rootless weeds.

     iv) All the above

Ans.   iv) All the above

Q.3    What has been said about the tall girl? Ans.        She was sitting with her head weighed down.

Q.4    What is said about the unlucky little boy?  Ans.  The boy had swollen joints as his father had. He had inherited the disease from his father. He had twisted bones.

Q.5    What does ‘with rat eyes, ‘paper seeming boy’ mean?

Ans.   The paper seeming boy means that the boy was weak and underweight. ‘Rat-eyes’ means his eyes were bulging out due to his weak body and had terror in them.

Stanza -2    “At the back of the dim class ........... other than this.”

Q.1    Why do you think the class was dim?  Ans.         It was because it had no windows and ventilators. It was situated in a dark corner,   having no electric light.

Q.2    Who was sitting at the back of the class?  Ans.   A sweet and young boy.

Q.3    What was the little one dreaming of?  Ans.        He was dreaming of the game that a squirrel could be playing in her tree room.

Q.4    What does ‘other than this’ mean?  Ans.   It means that the boy dreams not only about the classroom but also about the ‘tree room.’

Stanza -3    “On sour cream walls ........... its world’

Q.1    Which walls?  Ans.        The wall of a classroom is an elementary school in a slum.

Q.2    What does sour cream walls’ signify?  Ans.        It signifies that the walls gave out a four smell like that of ‘sour cream’ There were damp.

Q.3    What pictures are there on the walls?

Ans.   i) Of Shakespeare’s bust

     ii)  of a cloudless down

     iii) of a cathedral dome and of a flowery valley

     iv) all the above

Ans.   iv) all the above

Q.4    Why has the map been said to be ‘open-handed’?

Ans.   i) It gives the knowledge about all the seas and lands of the world

     ii)  it shows all the world

     iii) It tells us about the world free of cost

     iv) All the above

Ans.   iv) All the above

Stanza -4    “And yet, for these ........... stars of words”

Q.1    Who do these children refer to? Ans.         The children who are poor. They live in a slum of an elementary school in a slum

Q.2    Which is their world?  Ans.    The narrow street under the dull sky.

Q.3    What has been said about their future? Ans.      It is painted with fog. It is hopelessly dim.

Q.4    What does the poet mean by - ‘Stars of the world’ ?

Ans.   It means the tall promises made by politicians to the slum-dwellers.

Stanza 5      “Surely, Shakespeare is wicked,

          From fog to endless night

Q.1    What does the poet mean by ‘Surely Shakespeare is wicked’ ?

Ans.   It means that Shakespeare’s bust is out of place in that classroom (useless).

Q.2    Why has the map been said to be a bad example?  Ans.         Because it shows a world that is fully different from the world of poor children.

Q.3    ‘Tempting them to steal’ who are ‘them’ here?

Ans    Here ‘them’ refers to the poor children of an elementary school in a slum.

Stanza 6 -   On their slag heap ........ as big as doom.”

Q.1    What has been referred to as ‘slag heap’? Ans.  Bloodless bodies of the poor children.

Q.2    What peeps through their skin? Ans.         Their bones

Q.3    Their spectacles look like ........... An          .         They look like bottle bits on stones.

Q.4    Why does the poet want to remove the maps of the world from the classrooms of the poor children?

Ans.   It is because the poor children do not know about the outside world.

 Stanza-7     Unless, governor, inspector ............ they break the town’

Q.1    What is meant by ‘this map’? Ans.   The map of the world hung in the classroom.

Q.2    What are these windows which the poet talks of?  Ans.         These are the windows of the classroom.

Q.3    What has been referred to as ‘catacombs’?  Ans.         These are the small houses of the slum-dwellers.      

Q.4    What does the poet wants from the governor, inspector, visitor, etc.?

Ans.   .... to improve a lot of the slum dwellers.

Stanza-8     “And show the children to green fields ...... in the sun.”       

     -    The poet wants to take the poor children to the green fields and make them play on golden sands.

     -    ‘Green leaves’ means the leaves of the trees not these of the books.

     -    According to the poet, history belongs to those whose language is the sun-who are free to enjoy anything under the sun.

     -    Who can move freely on the earth.