Summary"My Mother at 66" is an ironical expression of the

inevitability of Death. Kamla Das very skillfully portrays

this theme of ageing, death and isolation through a
narration involving her mother. The poem is an intricate
mixture of the two very fundamental human
tendencies-- Love and the Fear of isolation-- which puts
the poet on the highest pedestal of reflective poetry.
These two emotions are inseparable, intertwined with
one-another for eternity; the feeling of Love gives rise to
the fear of isolation and loss, and the fear of isolation
itself nourishes the Love as it buds in the human heart.
As the poet is driving from her parents home to Cochin
Airport on a ripe Friday morning, she notices her
mother beside her, lying still, open mouthed, in a sleep
that seemed to stretch till Eternity. Her face, pale like a
corpse, almost ashen, and the pain visible on her face
makes the poet realise the thoughts lingering far away in
her mothers mind. This realisation erupts in her the fear
of isolation from her mother. It is a childhood fear of
every kid that he might be isolated from her mother; an
emotion that grows even more intense with Age because
as a child the fear is of mere isolation but as Age starts
catching up, this fear turns into the fear of losing ones
mother forever. Thus, the poet very skilfully describes
the helplessness that human nature feels upon
the inevitability of Death.
In order to distract her mind, the poet tries to divert her
mind by looking out of the window, only to be clasped by
the memories of her childhood which get refreshed when
she witnesses young trees sprinting and the merry
children spilling out of their homes. These remind her

probably of her own youth and life, her own younger

days and her mother when she was young. Kamla
realises that to the children, she is now a mothers age.
But to Kamla, her mother is still her mother, and when
she looks at her, she feels like a child again. This is an
ironical expression of the fact that as animals, we grow
old and die, but the relationship that we share with
people never changes with time. We are always kids for
our elders and we feel the same when we are around
them. We have an identity as animals, this is subject to
time. But our identity as persons seems timeless.
After the airports security check, standing a few yards
away, she catches the glimpse of her mother again
pale, exhausted, and as motionless as a late winters
moon-- and seeing her like this, losing the battle with
Death, the old childhood fear within her of losing her
mother surfaces again. But suppressing this ominous
feeling with all her might, she bids her mother goodbye
and hopes to see her soon, again an irony to the
thoughts that are going through her mind and just
smiles as her mother fades out of view.
The poem instates Kamla Das as skilful portrayer of
human emotions which she very innocently describes
through the fear of isolation and loss and the very
powerful emotion of Love, both as integral to nature as
the inevitability of Death.

Ageing is a natural process; have you ever thought what our elderly parents expect from us?
Answer
Aged people usually undergo pangs of loneliness and need companionship. The pessimistic
approach they develop towards life can be shunned only if we provide them with abundant

love, care, importance and empathy. They expect their children to sit calmly and talk to them
about the happenings of their lives and to take their suggestions for making significant
decisions. Their lost vitality can thus be easily rejuvenated. This happiness will encourage
them to live life enthusiastically.
Page No: 91
Think it Out
1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Answer
The emotional pain and ache that the poet feels is due to the realization that her mother has
gone old and has become frail and pale like a corpse. She is dependent on her children. The
ache also refers to the old familiar ache of the childhood that revisits the poet due to the
mothers old age and her approaching end.
2. Why are the young trees described as 'sprinting'?
Answer
The young trees are personified in the poem. They seem to be running in the opposite
direction when seen through the window of the moving car. The movement is juxtaposed
with the expression on the mothers face i.e. ashen like a corpse. The movement of the
children and the trees is in stark contrast with the stillness associated with the mother.

3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children 'spilling out of their homes'?
Answer
The poet highlights the helplessness and frailty of old age with the help of contrasts. The
mother dozes off mouth open, whereas the children spilling out of their homes signify
movement and energy, enthusiasm and vivacity, which the old people are bereft off.
4. Why has the mother been compared to the 'late winter's moon'?
Answer
The mother has been compared to the late winters moon which is dull and shrouded. It
symbolizes the ebbing of life. The moon brings to the poets mind night or the approaching
end of life. The mother like the late winters moon is dull, dim and dismal.

5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Answer
The parting words see you soon Amma are used by the poet to reassure the mother and to
infuse optimism in the poet herself. The poet accepts the reality yet keeps up the faade of
smiling in order to put up a brave front. It requires a lot of effort and hence the poet has used
the poetic device of repetition.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

By Stephen Spender

About the author

Sir Stephen Harold Spender was born on February 28, 1909, in London. He
attended Oxford University and fought in the Spanish Civil War. In the 1920s and
1930s he associated with other poets and socialists, such as W.H. Auden,
Christopher Isherwood, Louis MacNeice, and C. Day Lewis, and his early poetry was
often inspired by social protest. During World War II Spender was a member of the
National Fire Service (194144). After the war he made several visits to the United
States, teaching and lecturing at universities, and in 1965 he became the first nonAmerican to serve as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress (now laureate
consultant in poetry) a position he held for one year. In 1970 he was appointed
professor of English at University College, London; he became professor emeritus in
1977. He was knighted in 1983. Spender died on July 16, 1995.
Poem: An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Far far from gusty waves these children's faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor.
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paperseeming boy, with rat's eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father's gnarled disease,
His lesson from his desk. At 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.
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare's head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map

Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these

Children, these windows, not this world, are 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.
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, and the map a bad example
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal-For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open 'till they break the town
And show the children 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 is theirs whose language is the sun.

Theme
In this poem, Stephen Spender deals with the theme of social injustice and class
inequalities. He presents the theme by talking of two different and incompatible
worlds. The world of the rich and the civilized has nothing to do with the world of
narrow lanes and cramped holes. The gap between these two worlds highlights
social disparities and class inequalities.

Central Idea
Stephen Spender has presented a true picture of the life of the school children living
in the slum of Tyrolese Valley of Austrian Alpine Province. The children are in a very
miserable condition due to their poverty and illiteracy. They are depressed. Their
pale faces express sadness. They look lean, skinny and bonny. They are like
rootless weeds which cant resist anything for their existence. They are physically
very weak and under nourished. Spender voices his concern for these children who
live all their life in slums and have no opportunity to enjoy the real blessings of
life. He makes a frantic appeal to the educated and affluent sections of the society to
better the lot of the slum children through education. It will remove social injustice
and class inequality.

Detailed Analysis of the Poem

Stanza - 1
The poem describes an elementary school class room in a slum. These slum
children look very pathetic. Their faces are pale and reflect sadness. They are 'like
rootless weeds' as they lack proper nutrition. Moreover, they are unwanted plants
which grow on their own without being cared for, totally neglected. The tall girl has a
'weighed - down head' as she is burdened with the load of poverty. In fact she is so
subdued and suppressed that her head had bowed down with the burden of her
misfortunes. The 'paper thin' - extremely thin boy has 'rat's eyes' because the poor
undernourished boy is deprived of all the basic amenities of life. He is timid like a rat
and full of anxiety, he searches for food and security. This unfortunate boy suffers
from malnutrition and his growth is also 'stunted' - not properly developed. He has
also inherited from his father 'twisted bones' - bent and distorted bones. He has
inherited the poverty, disease and despair from his parents. His body is also
deformed because of the twisted bones which he has inherited. He appears to be as
sick as his parents. There is a sweet tender looking student who sits at the back of
the class. This boy is different from the others as 'his eyes live' in a dream - he is
dreaming and probably thinking about a better future. He is lost in his own world,
therefore, not sad like the others. This boy thinks of the 'squirrel's game' (metaphor).
He wants to enjoy and play freely like the squirrel in the garden outside. The squirrel
climbs trees and hides in their holes. The boy also dreams to be free but he cannot
as he must sit in the dull and dreary classroom. In the boys imagination 'tree room' the hollow in a tree, is full of fun, curiosity and mystery. This is in contrast to the
gloomy classroom.
Stanza - 2
The classroom is not well maintained. The pale cream walls which were painted
long ago with the help of donations, make the place look more miserable and sad.
Probably there is a portrait of Shakespeare on the wall. This is ironical as it is put up
in a place where there is no serious teaching. 'Cloudless dawn' and 'civilized dome'
suggest the monotonous life in the slum. These slums are surrounded by the
civilized city and the children cannot experience the beauty of the sky at dawn and
are unaware of it. All around them are concrete structures of the cities. The life in the
slum contrasts with the cloudless sky at dawn and concrete structures which
override the cities. There is also a picture of a beautiful valley full of sweet fragrant
flowers and these children of the slum will never be able to experience this beauty.
They are deprived of this beauty as they are condemned to live in the slums amidst
garbage. The 'open-handed map' in the classroom contrasts with their world. The
world given to us by god is full of all the bounties whereas the world of these slum
children is full of poverty and hunger. The world which they see is not the real world.
Their world is confined to the narrow, dusty streets of the slum. The map in the
classroom gives them hopes and aspirations and motivates them to explore the
world but they will never be able to see that world. These children can get the
glimpse of the outside world from the windows and it is far beyond their reach. They
are far away from nature. These slum children have a bleak and foggy future in store
for them. 'Their future is painted with a fog' - it is blurred by hopelessness. There is

no hope for the slum children. Instead of the normal blue sky they live under the 'lead
sky' - dark and dull, polluted - shows there is no hope for them. The atmosphere
hints at their monotonous life and the slum children remain confined throughout their
lives confined to the filth and dirt of the narrow slum streets. They are away from the
glory of natural beauty of the rivers, mountains, stars etc.
Stanza 3
The children of the slum are fighting the battle of life unarmed. They are troubled by
disease and despair. For them Shakespeare is 'wicked' and 'map' a bad example'.
The literary excellence of Shakespeare and the scenic beauty portrayed in the map
cannot relieve them from their despair. For these slum children, literary excellence is
a far-fetched thing and hence seems wicked. The map on the wall gives them false
aspirations as it makes them aware of the beautiful world given by god. The world of
these children is confined to the narrow streets of the slums. Therefore, map is 'a
bad example'. They feel cheated in being deprived of the thrilling sensations of the
sun, the ships, and the emotions of love. The 'ship', 'sun' and 'love' symbolize joy and
happiness which these children are deprived of. Their only experience is that of
hunger and poverty. To reach out to the world beyond, these children are sometimes
tempted to adopt wrong means even stealing to fulfill their dreams.
These slum children live in cramped holes, striving and struggling for survival in the
small, dirty rooms from 'fog to endless night' - from foggy mornings till long endless
nights, trying to meet both ends. The slum children live on 'slag heaps' - piles of
waste material. Their world is full of dirt and garbage. These children are very weak
and undernourished. They look like skeletons as their bones peep through their thin
skin.
They wear 'spectacles of steel with mended glass' - discarded spectacles by the rich,
mended (repaired) and worn.
Their life is like 'bottle bits on stones - shattered and broken like bits of bottle on a
stone. They are deprived of even the basic amenities of life. Their world is comprised
of the foggy slums where they live nightmares. Slums are the reality for these
children, their home, where they spend their life. The maps displayed in their
classroom are no reality for them. They cannot locate their slum in that map. It is
urgently required to give these slum inhabitants means and opportunities to lead a
dignified and civilized life.
Stanza - 4
The elementary school in the slum exists for name sake. The infrastructure is poor
with hardly any serious teaching. The school springs in activity only when a
governor, a school inspector or a visitor comes on a round of the school. The
administrative machinery of the school also gears up at that time. Then the map
becomes their window from where they can see the world beyond their slums. Since
they are confined to the slums, these sights and glimpses are shut upon them as
they are deprived of all opportunities and means. Their lives are shut up in the
cemeteries of these slums where they slither and slog to make both ends meet. The
poet hopes that these children will break free from their morbid life, from the chains

of the slums. He appeals to those in power to liberate these children from the
miserable slums and enable them to breathe in the fresh, beautiful and healthy
environment away from the foggy slums. They should be able to bask in the open
green fields and let them run free on the golden sands. Their world should not be
confined to the horrendous and gory slums. The poet visualizes freedom for these
children. He wants a carefree life where they get economic and social justice, where
they have the right to be happy. These slum children should be able to enjoy the
fundamental right of education otherwise their lives will be miserable. They should be
able to learn not from the books alone but also from the world, the nature around
them.
The poet ends on a note of positivity and wants opportunities to be available to these
children. The people who strive for knowledge are the ones who create history. The
ones who are let free are the ones who will create history. People who outshine
others, who glow like the sun, who break free from the constraints of their restricted
life are the ones who create history.

Main points
Important Extracts
Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:
The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones, reciting a fathers
Gnarled disease, His lessons from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of Squirrels game, in the tree room, other than this.
Questions:
Q1. Who is the unlucky heir? Why is he called unlucky?
Ans. The thin slum boy is the unlucky heir. He is so called because he has inherited
poverty, despair and disease from his parents.
Q2. Who sits back unnoted? Why?
Ans. A young boy sits at the back. This boy is different from the others as 'his eyes
live' in a dream - he is dreaming and probably thinking about a better future. He is
lost in his own world, therefore, not sad like the others. This boy thinks of the
'squirrel's game'. He wants to enjoy and play freely like the squirrel in the garden
outside.
Q3. Pick two images each of despair and disease from these lines.
Ans. The images of despair are - unlucky heir, dim class, and that of diseases are
- twisted bones, gnarled disease.
Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

And yet, for these

Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their futures painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.
Questions
Q1. Who are these children?
Ans. These are the slum children of Tyrol Valley.
Q2. What is their world like?
Ans. The school windows are their world because they cannot move beyond them.
Q3. What kind of future does the poet foresee for them?
Ans. The future of these children is quite dim. As we can't see things in the fog, in
the same way the future of these children is looming under darkness. Their future is
bleak.
Q4. Why does the poet say that the narrow street is sealed?
Ans. The narrow street is sealed as these provide no opportunity to make an access
to the outer world of wisdom.
Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:
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.

Questions:
Q1. What should they break?
Ans. They should break all barriers and obstructions that hinder the school childrens
growth.
Q2. What kind of a world does the poet imagine for these children?
Ans. The poet imagines a world where these children run around in the fields or on
sea beaches in a carefree manner. They should also enjoy freedom of knowledge
and expression.

Q3. What does the word sun symbolize?

Ans. Sun symbolizes light and brightness which, comes from education. Proper
education alone can improve the lives of these slum children.
Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
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 white green leaves open
History is theirs whose language is the son.
Questions:
Q1. Who can improve the lot of the poor slum children?
Ans. The rulers, the educationists, the teachers and the general public can pool their
efforts to give a better life to the poor slum children.
Q2. What kind of life do they live?
Ans. They are shut up in their dim classrooms and small hovels like dead bodies in
the grave.
Q3. What is the poet's appeal to the upper class people?
Ans. The poet urges them to bring some light into the lives of the slum children.
They may be imparted education in a healthy atmosphere.
Q4. What is the poet's advice?
Ans. The poet suggests that the slum children should not only be educated properly
but also removed from their dirty surroundings to sunny and green fields.
Q5. Explain: "History is theirs whose language is the sun."
Ans. The language that has warmth and power of the sun only can mould and write
history.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives
be made to change?
The poet wants an improvement in the quality of the lives of the slum children. He
feels that the government has a moral obligation to provide a meaningful education
to these children and to break down the barriers that stand in the way of improving
their lives.