But, he also seems to appreciate their protection, as the rest of the poem essentially proves his

parents right. They play in the street and climb cliffs and swim in rivers with no constraint. He
feared these children and their abrasive nature; their vituperative words and seemingly
insurmountable strength. Even in this fear though, there is an admiration of their strength that far
surpasses his own. Nonetheless, they would tease him constantly, mocking his lisp while
pointing reproachfully. The persona seems deeply troubled by their endless torment and abuse.
He pretends to smile, hoping to inspire some form of peace and fraternity, but to no avail. He
always longed to forgive them for their harassment, but is denied when they do not reciprocate
any desire for harmony. The persona and the children are of different socioeconomic classes; the
children, lower class and the persona, middle-to-upper class. Thus, there is a divide between
them, and their mockery of him is suggested to have a separate motivation other than simple
childish badinage- they are jealous of his privilege. The persona himself is jealous of the rough
children's freedom even though his social class permits him far more privilege than they have.
This is the implicit irony of the poem.
The mood of this poem is reflective. The themes include childhood experience, parental
influence and social segregation.

Analysis

"My parents kept me from children who were rough"

, and the abrasive nature of these children justifies their worry. Describing them as rough
instantly creates a contrast between the children and the persona himself, as his parents' effort to
keep him from them means that he himself is not like them. The use of the word 'kept' implies
that sort of childish resentment that the persona would have felt as a child, wanting to experience
the same freedom as these children but held back nonetheless.

"Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes

Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams."
The rough children are said to throw 'words like stones.' This simile gives the reader insight into
the character and behaviour of these children, as their use of words is compared to the
destructive act of throwing stones. Their words, therefore, are used with the intention to harm
emotionally in the same way stones are thrown with the intention of causing physical
destruction. The sharp, monosyllabic language used in the simile communicates a harsh use of
words without etiquette characteristic of the lower class.
The children wear torn clothes, another indicator of their less than fortunate status. Despite this
suboptimal economic status, the children are able to explore and play uninhibited. They run in
the street, climb cliffs and swim in streams; all things that our dear persona could never dream of
doing. His overprotective parents keep him from both these children and their carefree,
unrestricted lifestyle. He is envious of them, and wishes to enjoy the same wonders of freedom
as they do. An alliteration is used here in 'climbed cliffs.' This shows the agility of these
children, and sort of portrays them in an animalistic and primitive light in their scaling of natural
landscapes. Their thighs are said to show 'through rags,' rags being a symbol of poverty and
communicating their poorer status in comparison to the persona.
"I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron
Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms"
Using hyperbole, the persona communicates how great his fear was of these boys. Tigers are
able rip a human limb from limb with sheer animalistic instinct and power, but he still places his
fear of their muscles above that (hence why it is an exaggerated expression). Coupled with the
use of simile to compare their muscles to the rigid strength of iron, the persona conveys a very
exaggerated fear along with a possible amount of admiration of their strength. Being of a lower
working class, they would perform more manual labour and explore more, giving them physical
strength far beyond the reach of the persona.
We also see the harassment he is subjected to, as he is pinned to the ground during some sort of
fight. He is made the victim of this torment, and it is possibly because of how different he is
from them. His superior social status is a likely cause, along with his disability mentioned later
on in the poem.

"I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys

Who copied my lisp behind me on the road."
The persona now states that he feared their 'salt coarse pointing.' This metaphor directly
compares their pointing to the coarseness of salt. The use of coarse continues the description of
the children as rough, but it also gives a tangibility to the derision of the boys. The persona feels
their mockery to be coarse and harsh, inflicting a near-physical abrasion that goes beyond some
sort of friendly badinage. By saying salt coarse, it also alludes to a common phrase 'rub salt into
the wound.' Although it is a bit of a stretch, their mockery, on top of forcing him into
compromising positions in fights, is like rubbing salt into an open wound, as he experiences the
emotional fallout as well as the physical.
The boys copy his lisp behind him on the road, showing that his speech impediment is a point
which they use to mock him. His disability is therefore one of the things that make him a prime
target of these rough children.

"They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges

Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
While I looked the other way, pretending to smile."
Figurative devices
Simile :  

 “Who threw words like stones” the words the boys use where harsh and hurt when they
would say them.

 
  “muscles like iron” they boys were strong and Spence may have not been strong enough
to fight them off so to him they were much stronger than him and it would hurt to be
hit by them.

 “Like dogs to bark at my world” not literal dogs but they were loud and unrelenting like
dog’s barks frightening and offensive getting ready to attack.

Metaphor:

 “the salt coarse pointing of those boys” salt is rough and salt in wounds sting. The
pointing by the boys would point and it would hurt emotionally for spencer.

Allusion:

 “While I looked the other way” an allusion to Jesus turning the other cheek as a form of
forgiveness, like Spencer wanting to forgive the boys.

1. Spender goes on to describe the boys in an

almost exaggerated fashion. He stresses how they were constantly
outside doing things he was never allowed to do, such as climbing
cliffs and bathing in the streams. It appears that he was even envious
of their style of living. Spender uses continuous Enjambment to
allow his thoughts to flow together and create unity between the
sentences. Naturally, being of a lower class meant the boys had to
do more labor, therefore, they had muscles which he could not even
dream of having. Spender states that he feared their knees on his
arms which shows that perhaps he had fallen into a scrap with them
before, or he had seen them fighting in such a manner with each
other. Not only did Spender fear their physical strength, but he also
feared their words, mocking him and pointing at him. The fact that
Spender states he feared their pointing shows his insecurity of being
 left out. Spender has so much fear of the boys because he had such
a different lifestyle compared to them and though he was of a
higher socioeconomic status he somewhat desired this lifestyle and
that is what made him feel bad about not fitting in with them. He
describes them as fit and springing up from behind bushes. This
shows us that Spender found their behavior surprising and shocking
once again because he lived such a different lifestyle than they did.
Spender uses Imagery to show the boys were like some form of
predator. Springing from behind hedges to harass him for being
different than they were. Throughout the poem, Spender is
describing the boys as ‘they’ and ‘their’ showing that he truly sees
them as far and distant beings who he never can truly befriend.
2. Spender uses a Simile again to compare the boys to dogs, barking at
his world and throwing mud. It is interesting that he compared the
boys to dogs, for dogs can both be an enemy or close friend.
Throwing mud could symbolize that the boy’s words had no real
meaning to them but they were simply echoes of their envy towards
him. Spender makes the socioeconomic class distinction more
apparent by stating that he had a different world than what they
had. The boys were not hating on Spender himself, but rather, they
were hating the class distinctions and were more than likely envious
of Spender’s privileged life. Spender concludes by stating that he
would have loved to befriend the boys had they even shown the
slightest bit of interest. Towards the end of the poem, it becomes
clear that Spender entitled the poem ‘My Parents’ because it is due
to being their child that he was given a more privileged life than
these boys. He was following the orders of his parents and at the
same time fulfilling the social requirement enforced on him due to
his lineage by staying away from and even fearing the impoverished
boys. Some irony can also be seen in the poem as Spender should
be happy that he is so much more privileged than them, but instead
of enjoying his lifestyle he fees envious and seems to wish that he
could enjoy their strength and freedom. There even seems to be a
hint of awe in the description that Spender gives of the boys, lithe
like predators, string and capable.