An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

By- Stephen Spender

About the Poet Stephen Spender (1909-1995) was a poet and English essayist. Spender had keen
interest in politics and so, he declared himself as socialist and pacifist. His work
concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle.

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.

Rhyme Scheme: The poem has been written in free verse. It does not have rhyme scheme.

Assumptions: o The school is built in a slum which is part of an industrial area.

o The owner of the school is either a retired schoolteacher or a business-
minded man. His only aim was to make money by attracting the visitors for
their donations.
o Needless to say, the children inside the classroom were poor, malnourished
and ill. Their heads held down under the burden of life, these children hate
being inside this classroom.
o The interior of the school room is decorated yet the children see nothing
interesting.
o These children are forced to attend the boring classes, or they are lured by
the meals provided by the school.
o The stories of Shakespeare taught in the class inspired the children to
steal. They hated the map inside the classroom because it allotted rich land
for the rich and the slums for them. They hated the pictures of the tall
buildings in the classroom because their own huts were small and
poorly. They hated everything inside the classroom and preferred the dusty,
clouded, dark and polluted world outside the classroom.
o The poet ends the poem with an appeal to the world: “Demolish this school,
break its windows and take these children to the beautiful world of freedom
and knowledge before they grow up to destroy the town.”
Introduction: Stephen Spender (1909-1995) is an English poet and essayist who took active part in
politics. “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” by Stephen Spender pictures
a classroom in a slum highlighting subtlety the plight of the children and the themes
of social injustice and inequalities. The poet uses vivid images and appropriate
expression to reflect the difficulties faced by the underprivileged children that is still
prevalent in the world of ours.

Stanza 1: Stephen Spender shows us that the condition of the children in a slum school is
pathetic. Their world is far from our healthy, fresh environment. They are like
rootless weeds, unwanted and cast out. Their hairs are unkempt and untidy, and their
faces clearly show the plight of their existence. A particular tall girl is described by
the poet. She has a bowed down head which shows the burden of the stressed life
she leads. Another boy who is as thin as a paper too has the same under nourished
look on his face. He has a scared expression in his eyes.
These unlucky children have only acquired diseases and bad luck from their parents.
One of them is even not able to get up from his desk to read out the lesson.
However, the poet says there is one particular boy who is a little younger than the
rest has still his hopes and dreams with him. He waits for the time when he can go
out in the open to play. The environment of gloom has not yet engulfed his dreams
and hopes.

Stanza 2: In the second stanza, the poet describes the classroom which is also dirty and
neglected like its inhabitants. The classroom too exhibits an atmosphere of
depression and glum. The walls are cream in colour and on them the names of the
donors are engraved. A bust of the great poet Shakespeare with a background of a
sky is put on. The walls have pictures of splendid Tyrolese valley which is a sharp
contrast to the atmosphere of the classroom. There are maps on the walls which
show them the harsh world from their classroom windows. Their world presents a
future to them which is dark and cruel. The poet brings out a harsh reality of these
children. These children are trapped in a hopeless situation and their world is far
from the beautiful nature such as rivers, valleys and seas.

Stanza 3: Stephen Spender suddenly attacks Shakespeare and calls him ‘wicked.’ He says so
because he feels Shakespeare has poisoned the children’s mind by misleading them
that their world is beautiful; it has corrupted the young minds which in turn had
made them to steal and escape from their confinements. The poet feels deep rooted
sadness for the condition of the slum children. The children are so skinny that they
seem to be wearing skins. The glasses of the spectacles seem to have been mended
several times. The total appearance of the children shows their deprivation and under
nourished conditions. The poet feels that the classroom should have pictures of huge
slums instead of those scenic graphics.

Stanza 4:
In the final stanza of “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” the poet uses a
 pacifying tone and appeals to the governor, inspector and the visitors to do
something about the condition of these slum schools. The map showing the beautiful
world can be their reality too if a little will and effort are put together. The poet
hopes for a better future of these children. He wants the authorities to realize their
responsibilities and free the children from such grave-like confinements. He wants
the barriers to be pulled down. The children must break away from the school
boundaries and enjoy the world beyond. Only that way they can enjoy the nature-
the green fields and the golden sands. The poet wants them to sail, explore and
discover the world so that someday their names are found in history books.

Tone of The Poem: The tone of the poem is sombre and philosophical. The theme revolves around the
profound problem that affects our society at large. The universal gap between rich
and the poor is highlighted. It also highlights the irony of the life in the twenty-first
century where the world has made so many advancements, yet an atmosphere of
gloominess prevails.

Theme of The Poem  The poem deals with themes of poverty and alienation among children living in a
slum. The poet uses the setting of an elementary school classroom located in a slum
to explore these themes and concludes with a rallying cry for improvement in the
lives of the slum children.
In the first stanza, the poet introduces us to the students in the classroom and
describes some of them. The main underlying theme here is their extreme poverty
and the consequent lack of any sort of enthusiasm with the sole exception of a little
boy, who still retains some of his innocence. In the second stanza, the poet describes
the various items in the classroom. However, at the end of the stanza, he comments
on the hopelessness in the children’s lives.
In the third stanza, the poet reflects that the temptations provided by the various
items in the classroom such as maps, might tempt the children to steal. He goes on to
describe in detail, the pathetic conditions in the day to day lives of these children. In
the fourth and final stanza, the poet raises a rallying cry for change. He urges the
powers that be and perhaps the reader too, to remove the metaphorical walls that
hold back these children condemning them to a life of abject poverty. He imagines a
future where these children will lead happy, free and knowledgeable lives.  The
theme in this paragraph is that of change and optimism.

Important  Gusty waves – Strong waves (seas)

vocabulary:  Weeds – Unwanted plants
 Pallor – Face
 The tall girl – Grown up girl
 Weighed- down head – Head that is already under the stress of life
 The paper- seeming boy – As thin as paper
 Rat’s eyes – Searching eyes
 The stunted – Not grown in height; dwarfed
 Heir – One who inherits his/her parents possessions, wealth, etc.
 Twisted bones – A disease that makes one’s bones twisted
 Reciting – Speaking; expressing
 Gnarled – Twisted
 Unnoted – Unnoticed
 His eyes live in a dream -He lives in a world of imagination
 Squirrel’s game – Children’s game; the game of hide and seek
 Sour cream – Unpleasant
 Donations – Pictures and other things donated by visitors
 Shakespeare’s head -A picture or bust of William Shakespeare
 Cloudless at dawn – Cloudless early morning scene
 Civilized – Sophisticated
 Dome – (here) Tall and big building; skyscrapers
 Riding all cities – Standing tall in big cities
 Belled – Having bell flowers
 Tyrolese valley – A beautiful valley Austria
 Open-handed – Generously giving
 Map – A local map (It is unlikely to be a world-map)
 Awarding – Giving/distributing
 World 1 – The rich and the poor
 World 2 – Rich areas and poor areas
 Map awarding the world its world – Map is presented as a discriminating
parent who gives rich territory for the rich and backward territory (slums) for
the poor.
 A narrow street – Street of the slums
 Sealed – Closed in
 Lead sky – Polluted (because of the factory) sky
 Capes – The extreme southern end of a country (like Cape of Good Hope or
Kanyakumari) where trade thrived in the past.
 Stars of words – Leaders who inspire and guide people with oral or written
words
 Wicked – Evil; immoral
 The map bad example – Map discriminates between the rich and the poor
 Ships (adventure/business – The Merchant of Venice) and sun (the world of
light, knowledge – The Tempest) and love (romance – Romeo & Juliet) –
The triple elements of Shakespearean plays
 Tempting – Provoking; encouraging.
 Tempting them to steal – Shakespearean plays give temptation to the slum
children to steal to be rich
 Slyly – Playfully; cunningly
 Cramped holes – Crammed/little/stuffed houses
 From fog to endless night – Perpetual (endless) darkness.
 On their slag heap – On their shapeless body
 Skins peeped through by bones – They are so thin that their bones jut out
 Spectacles of steel – Steel-rimmed glasses
  Mended glass – Broken glass
 Bottle bits on stones – Broken glass
 Catacombs- Underground burial places
 This map becomes their window – Although the children hate the map, yet
they are forced to look at it because all the other attractions in the classroom
have no relevance in their slum-life.

Questions An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Extract Based Questions:
1. 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 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. 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.

a) Why is the head of the tall girl “weighed down”?

b) What do you understand by “The paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes”?
c) Who is the “unlucky heir” and what has he inherited?
d) Whose ‘eyes live in a dream’ and what is his dream about?
e) What does the image “rootless weeds” suggest?
f) What is the stunted boy reciting?
g) Why is the class described referred to as ‘dim’?
h) Pick two images each of despair and disease from these lines.

2. 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.

a) What do the classroom walls have?

b) Why does the poet refer to the Tyrolese valley in these lines?
c) What is the future of these children?
d) What are the narrow street and lead sky indicative of?
e) Who are these children? What is their world like?
f) Explain: ‘civilized dome riding all cities.
g) Why is the ‘window’ depicted as the world of the children?
h) What is the specialty of the Tyrolese valley?

3. 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.

a) Why is Shakespeare described as wicked?

b) What does the reference to 'slag heap' mean?
c) Why is the map a bad example?
d) Explain “from fog to endless night.”
e) Which two images are used to describe the slums?
f) Which figure of speech is used in the last line?
g) Explain ‘skin peeped through by bones’
h) Why is the mended glass referred to as ‘bottle bits of stones’?

4. Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor,

This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,

a) Why does the poet invoke ‘governor, ‘inspector’ and ‘visitor’?

b) What have ‘these windows’ done to their lives?
c) What do you understand by catacombs?
d) Which literary device has been used? Explain.

5. 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.

a) To whom does 'they' refer?

b) What would they break?
c) What other freedom should they enjoy?
d) What is expected of the governor, inspector and visitor?
e) What are the windows doing in their lives at present?
f) What is meant by white and green leaves?
g) ‘History is theirs whose language is the sun’. Explain.