AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

CLASSROOM IN A SLUM
POET-STEPHEN SPENDER
COMPILED BY-DR ANUPAMA SURI
 LIST OF CONTENTS
1.THEME OF THE POEM
2.LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION(Along with literary
devices)
3.NCERT SOLUTIONS
4.REFERENCE TO CONTEXT QUESTIONS
5.SUMMARY OF THE POEM IN ENGLISH & HINDI
 An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Theme

In ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’,

Spender beautifully brings out the themes of social
injustice and class inequalities.
Poverty is also another theme of the poem. The
poet creates an image of children in poverty. It is
poverty that has caused the children to be weighed
down, diseased and twisted. The poet believes that
poverty is created through the oppressive power of
capitalism.
STANZA 1
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair was torn round 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 tree room, other than this.

DIFFICULT WORDS

Gusty waves: breezy winds

Pallor: pale, dull face
Stunted: not fully grown due to malnutrition
Gnarled: Knotted, rough
weeds: unwanted plants that grow on their own
Paper seeming boy: Very thin boy, as thin as a sheet of paper
heir: Successor
 EXPLANATION
The poet describes the children who study in an elementary school which is
setup in a slum area. The poet says that the faces of children are dull and
without any energy. They are not full of energy like other kids of their age.
These children are compared to unwanted weed. Here the writer wants to say
that these children seem to be unwanted like the unwanted weeds which grow
on their own in the fields. Their hair is not neatly done. It falls on their pale
faces as if they have been torn apart. The children are untidy, they haven’t
combed their hair. Then he describes a tall girl who seems to be burdened by
poverty. Her head is bent maybe because of tiredness or shame. There is
another boy who is so weak and thin that he has been compared to a sheet of
paper. The boy’s eyes reflect greed and he wants to achieve everything. Then he
describes another student who is physically disabled. The poet says that this
boy is unlucky because he inherited a disease from his father due to which he
has a deformed body. Instead of getting any facility from his father, he has
received a disease in heritage. This disabled boy is sitting on his bench and is
reciting his lesson. At the back of the class, in dim, dark area, was a small boy
who was not visible to the poet as he was sitting in darkness. The poet could see
his eyes which were bright and full of a dream. He was not paying attention to
the class. It seemed as if he was rather interested in playing with squirrels in
the tree house.
 Literary devices:
Simile: children are compared with rootless weed
(like rootless weed)

Metaphor: boy is compared with paper as he is thin

(paper seeming boy)

Repetition: use of far to stress on the distance

 STANZA 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 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.

DIFFICULT WORDS

Sour: unpleasant, here refers to the colour of sour cream -off white or
creamish
Donations: things given or received in charity
Dawn: early morning, sunrise
civilized dome: here, it means rising sun at the horizon which is in the shape
of a dome (semi - circle)
Tyrolese valley: A beautiful ice-free valley in Austria
Sealed: shut or locked
lead: here, dark future of kids
Capes :A large piece of land that sticks out into the sea from the coast
 EXPLANATION
The poet describes the walls of the school. They are cream in color
like the color of sour cream. This means that the walls are not
clean, they have not been painted recently. The walls are covered
with different charts and images that must have been donated by
different people. There is a picture of Shakespeare on the wall. His
head which is bald looks like the rising sun at the horizon. At the
time of daybreak, the Sun is rising at the horizon and is semi-
circular like a dome shape. It seems to be behind all the cities.
There is a picture of the famous Tyrolese valley which has
beautiful flowers. There is the image of a map which helps all in its
own way. But for these children, the map of the world is irrelevant
because the slum where they live is different from what is shown in
the map. Their world is only what they see out of the window of
the classroom - the slum. Their future is full of darkness. Their
future is compared to a narrow street which means that there is no
wide scope available for their future growth. These children are far
away from the radiant light of knowledge and education.
 Literary devices:
Metaphor:
1. Walls are described to be dull as sour cream (sour cream
walls)
2.  The future of the kids is described as limited (Narrow Street
sealed with a lead sky)

Assonance: repetition of vowel sound ‘e’ (Belled, flowery,

Tyrolese valley)

Allusion: Reference to well-known person or place

( Shakespeare’s  head, Tyrolese valley)
Repetition: ‘far’ repeated
STANZA 3
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, 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

DIFFICULT WORDS
Wicked: evil
Tempted: persuade
Slyly: trickily
Cramped: confined
Slag: weak
Mended: repaired
Blot: to mark with a spot
Doom: disaster
 EXPLANATION

The poet further says that these children living in the slum area have faced so
many hardships that they feel every other person to be their enemy. For them
Shakespeare is an evil man. They don’t find the map to be a good thing. They were
never liked or loved by anyone. Therefore they hate almost everyone. Their desire
of being loved by others forces them to steal. They live in small homes and they
have started adjusting to it. Their life is going towards an endless night. This
means that their future is full of darkness. These kids are so thin that one can
easily see their bones through the thin layer of skin. Their skin is like the thin
layer of cloth and the bones beneath are visible through the skin. These kids suffer
from malnutrition. They wear spectacles which are made of steel. They are cheap
and very uncomfortable. Even the lenses in the spectacles are repaired. The
spectacles look like stones which have been repaired with pieces of glass sticking
out of them. Here the poet tries to explain that these kids have to face so many
hardships in their lives. As these slums are getting bigger, they will destroy the
future of these children and it is very difficult for such kids to escape from them.
 Literary devices:

Metaphor: Their homes are very small like

holes (cramped holes)

Simile- their repaired spectacles (like bottle

bits on stones)

Alliteration: Use of ‘f’ sound (From fog)

STANZA 4
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 green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.

DIFFICULT WORDS

Catacombs: tomb, cemetery

Azure: deep blue
 EXPLANATION

The poet says that the government should take notice of the
problems being faced by these kids. He urges them to change
the life of these kids and make the world map a reality for
them. There is a need to break the restrictions which are put
on them due to poverty and lack of resources. He wants the
governor and public to help these kids in achieving their
dreams. As this will take them away from fog to azure sky, the
poet here wants to say that in this way the kids can be taken
away from the darkness of their present to a bright future. He
wants these kids to experience the sands and the beauty of
nature as this will led to a desire of gaining knowledge. They
will then go through the white and green leaves. Here white
leaves depict books and green leaves depict nature. This will
then result in their progress and they will be able to paint a
bright future for themselves.
 Literary devices
Metaphor: books and nature are expressed in
form of white and green leaves (the white-green
leaves open)

Anaphora: Use of repeated words in two

consecutive lines (Run azure. And Run naked)
 NCERT SOLUTIONS

Q2- What do you think is the color of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think
the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?

A2- The color of sour cream is pale and dull. The poet used this expression to
describe the classroom walls because the walls were not freshly paint. The
walls of the classroom were dull and were not beautiful.

Q3- The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of
‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘world maps’ and beautiful
valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children?

A3- The various pictures on the wall are not similar to the world of these
slum dwelling children because they have never got adequate facilities and
education. They have always seen crime happening around them. That is why
it is said in the poem that for these children Shakespeare is a wicked man.
Not only this, their world is the dirty slum area in which they live which is
continuously expanding. Hence, the world maps which never show slums
and the beautiful valley which is never seen and is out of reach of such
children are in total contrast to what they see as their world.
Q4- What does the poet want for the children of
the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
A4- The poet wants the governor, inspector and visitors
to visit the school. He wants them to see the plight of
these kids and do something for their betterment.
These kids should be provided with best amenities in
order to make their life better. He wants these kids to
visit beautiful places which are granted by the nature
with its beauty. This will instill a hunger in them to
study in order to make their life better.
 Reference-to-Context Questions
Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
1. Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.
a. What are the children compared to?
Answer:
The children have pale faces and torn and scattered hair all over their faces like
rootless weeds. A thin boy is compared to a paper.
b. Why do you think the tall girl is sitting with a weighed-down head?
Answer:
The tall girl is sitting with a weighed-down head because she is depressed of being
poor. She also feels humiliated and embarrassed because of the lack of education.
c. Give two phrases which tell us that the children are undernourished.
Answer:
(i) rootless weeds
(ii) rat’s eyes
d. Name the poetic device used in the second line.
Answer:
Simile
2. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At the back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young.

a. Who is the unlucky heir?

Answer:
The boy with stunted growth is the unlucky heir of his father’s gnarled
disease of twisted bones.
b. What will he inherit?
Answer:
All that he will inherit is his father’s gnarled disease of twisted bones.
c. Who is sitting at the back of the dim class?
Answer:
A young unnoted, sweet boy is sitting unnoticed at the back of the dim class.

d. Why is the disease referred to as ‘gnarled’?

Answer:
The disease has been referred to as ‘gnarled’ because it has restricted his
growth and gave him twisted bones.
 3. 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.

a. Which walls have been referred to in these lines?

Answer:
They are the walls of a classroom in an elementary school in a slum.
b. What is meant by ‘sour cream walls’?
Answer:
The walls are damp, unpleasant and dirty. They have not been painted freshly and is
pealing off the surface.
c. What donations are there on the walls?
Answer:
On this wall many donated items have been put up that represent different world. A
bust of Shakespeare and domes of huge buildings in the cities. There is also a
reflection of the early morning cloudless sky on the wall. There is the beautiful picture
of the valley of Tyrolese and the world map.
d. Explain, ‘Awarding the world its world’.
Answer
The rich people who have drawn these maps have depicted these places that are
unreachable for these children. They are giving the world its world which
however, does not belong to them.
 4. 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 ‘these children’? What do ‘these windows’ refer to?
Answer:
‘These children’ are the poor children living in a slum. ‘These
windows’ are the windows of the classroom where the
children are now sitting.

b. What has been said to be the world for these children?

Answer:
The narrow street under the dull sky has been said to be their
world. Their fate is sealed by the windows in the classroom, and
does not go beyond as the map suggests.
c. What has been said about their future?
Answer:
Their future is painted with fog. It means that the poor children
have no bright hopes about their future. There is no one to guide
them, their future is not clear and is sealed by the darkness of
the sky that is above the narrow street they live in.

d. Explain the importance of the last line.

Answer:
These children have no access to the beauties of nature, they
cannot see the rivers or the capes, or the stars of words. The
highly literate people of the world will never be known to them.
 5. Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, 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.
a. Why is Shakespeare described as wicked?

Answer:
Shakespeare is an epitome of high literary excellences, but in the slum
schools, where hardly any learning takes place and the children are
troubled by disease and despair, literary training is a far cry. That is why,
Shakespeare has been described as wicked.

b. Explain: ‘from fog to endless night’.

Answer:
The expression describes the miserable and pathetic lives of the slum
children. From foggy mornings till late nights, these children make
desperate attempts to live their life, sustaining it despite all odds. Their life
is full of misery, hopelessness and suffering.
c. What does the reference of ‘slag heap’ mean?
Answer:
The poet is comparing the extremely starved and
malnourished bodies to the large pile of waste metal
remains. When they sit within their classrooms,
they appear to be the heaps of untidy piles of bones,
or like a slag heap.
d. How do the slum children look like?
Answer:
Slum children look like skeletons wearing broken
glasses as spectacles.
 6. 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. Which two images are used to describe these slums?
Answer:
The two images used to describe slums are:
(i) foggy slums
(ii) slums as big as doom

b. What sort of life do these children lead?

Answer:
These children lead miserable lives. They are physically weak.

c. Which figure of speech is used in the last line?

Answer:
In the last line, ‘Simile’ is used as the figure of speech.

d. What request does the poet make here?

Answer:
The poet wants the maps to mention clearly the slums that they live in.
 7. 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

a. What is meant by ‘this map’?

Answer:
It is a map of the world which is hung on the wall in the classroom.

b. What are ‘these windows’ which the poet talks of?

Answer:
They are the classroom windows from where the children could see only a
narrow street and a dull sky.

c. What has been referred to as ‘catacombs’?

Answer:
The little narrow homes of the slum-dwellers are referred to as ‘catacombs’.
They lead a life that is shut inside the slum.
d. Why is there a mention of three categories of people?
Answer:
The three categories of people are the ones who can improve the conditions of
the slum.
 8 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.
a. To whom does ‘they’ refer?
Answer:
‘They’ refers to the children sitting in the classroom of an elementary school
in a slum
b. What would they break?
Answer:
The poet hopes that one day they would break free from the chains of the slum.
They will rise above all deprivations and create a beautiful world for themselves.
c. What other freedom should they enjoy?
Answer:
They should enjoy equal rights as citizens and get education entitled to them.
They should have a bright future like all others.
d. Explain the last line of the extract.
Answer:
The poet feels that history will be changed if the people are educated. And
according to him, history is created by those who have the warmth and
exposure to the sun and the brightness of the wide world.
 An Elementary school classroom in a slum
Summary
This poem by Stephen Spender gives a vivid description of a school
classroom in a slum and the children in the class.
The faces of the children are dull. Their appearance shows that they are
unwanted. The children have gloomy faces. Their heads hanging low in
sadness due to being poor. They have diseased bodies inherited from their
parents and are victims of poverty. At the dim end of the room, sits one
child who has bright eyes which seem to dream - of playing outside with
squirrels. He is different from the others in the dim, darkroom. The walls
of the classroom are dirty. People have donated different charts and
images which have been put upon them. One of them is a picture Of the
great playwright Shakespeare. His head is bald and resembles the rising
Sun. The next poster is of the Tyrolese valley, full of churches and flowers
which symbolizes the beautiful creations of nature. Another one is a map
of the World. To these children, the world is not the one shown in these
pictures, but it is the one they see out of the classroom window. They are
trapped in the slums. Their future is dim and hopeless. They have a dark
future as their options in life are limited and are covered with dismay.
They are far away from the bright light of knowledge.
Comprehending these pictures is beyond their abilities. They hate everyone
and for them, Shakespeare is a wicked man. As no one loves them, they
dislike everyone. the desire for love and acceptance forces them to do crimes
like stealing. The children are so skinny that their clothes are like skin and
their skeleton is visible through them. This is due to a lack of nutrition. They
have worn-looking glasses made of steel which are cheap, heavy, and
uncomfortable. Their chances of fulfilling their dreams and moving out have
been further reduced by building bigger slums. Until they come out of the
slums, they will never know what the world looks like.
The Government system which makes these slums is the cause for these
people to live in them. The education system is such that it forces them to
live in these slums. They are not given the right to dream beyond these
slums. They have been restricted to the slums.
The poet requests the authorities to allow these children to go out of these
slums so that the maps on the walls of the classroom become a reality for
them.  They should be taken to the green fields rather than the dim slums.
The sunny, warm sand of the beaches and the bright blue sky will instill a
hunger for knowledge in their minds. Then they will absorb all of it. Then
these children will become economically empowered. The poem ends with a
powerful line - those who make history are the ones who shine like the Sun.
स्टीफन स्पेंडर की यह कविता एक झुग्गी में स्कू ल की कक्षा का और कक्षा में बच्चों का विशद वर्णन देती है।

बच्चों के चेहरे सुस्त हैं। उनकी उपस्थिति से पता चलता है कि वे अवांछित हैं। बच्चों के चेहरे उदास हैं। उनके सिर गरीब होने के कारण उदासी में नीचे
लटक रहे हैं। उनके माता-पिता से विरासत में मिले रोगग्रस्त शरीर हैं और वे गरीबी के शिकार हैं।
कमरे के एक छोर पर, एक बच्चा बैठा है जिसके पास उज्ज्वल आँखें हैं जो सपने में लगता है – गिलहरी के साथ बाहर खेल रहा है। वह मंद, अंधेरे कमरे
में दूसरों से अलग है।
कक्षा की दीवारें गंदी हैं। लोगों ने विभिन्न चार्ट और चित्र दान किए हैं जो उन पर लगाए गए हैं। उनमें से एक महान नाटककार शेक्सपियर की तस्वीर है।
उसका सिर गंजा है और उगते सूर्य से मिलता जुलता है।
अगला पोस्टर टिरोलीज़ घाटी का है, जो चर्चों और फू लों से भरा है जो प्रकृ ति की सुंदर रचनाओं का प्रतीक है। एक और एक दुनिया का एक नक्शा है।
इन बच्चों के लिए दुनिया इन तस्वीरों में नहीं दिखाई गई है, लेकिन यह वह है जो वे कमरे की खिड़की से बाहर देखते हैं।
वे झुग्गियों में फं से हुए हैं। उनका भविष्य मंद और आशाहीन है। उनके पास एक अंधेरा भविष्य है क्योंकि जीवन में उनके विकल्प सीमित हैं और
निराशाजनक रूप से कवर किए गए हैं। वे ज्ञान के उज्ज्वल प्रकाश से बहुत दूर हैं।
इन चित्रों को समझना उनकी क्षमताओं से परे है। वे हर किसी से नफरत करते हैं और उनके लिए, शेक्सपियर एक दुष्ट आदमी है। जैसा कि कोई भी
उनसे प्यार नहीं करता, वे सभी को नापसंद करते हैं। प्यार और स्वीकृ ति की इच्छा उन्हें चोरी जैसे अपराध करने के लिए मजबूर करती है।
बच्चे इतने पतले होते हैं कि उनके कपड़े त्वचा की तरह होते हैं और उनके कं काल उनके माध्यम से दिखाई देते हैं। ऐसा पोषण की कमी के
कारण होता है। उन्होंने स्टील से बने चश्मे पहने हैं जो सस्ते, भारी और असुविधाजनक हैं।
अपने सपनों को पूरा करने और बाहर जाने की उनकी संभावनाओं को बड़ी झुग्गियों के निर्माण से और कम कर दिया गया है। जब तक वे
मलिन बस्तियों से बाहर नहीं आएंगे, तब तक वे कभी नहीं जान पाएंगे कि दुनिया कै सी दिखती है।
सरकारी प्रणाली जो इन मलिन बस्तियों को बनाती है, इन लोगों के उनमें रहने का कारण है।
शिक्षा प्रणाली ऐसी है कि यह उन्हें इन मलिन बस्तियों में रहने के लिए मजबूर करती है। उन्हें इन मलिन बस्तियों से परे सपने देखने का
अधिकार नहीं दिया जाता है। उन्हें मलिन बस्तियों तक सीमित कर दिया गया है।
कवि अधिकारियों से इन झुग्गियों से इन बच्चों को बाहर जाने की अनुमति देने का अनुरोध करता है ताकि क्लास रूम की दीवारों पर बने नक्शे
उनके लिए एक वास्तविकता बन जाएं। उन्हें मंद मलिन बस्तियों के बजाय हरे खेतों में ले जाना चाहिए।
समुद्र तटों की धूप, गर्म रेत और चमकदार नीले आकाश उनके मन में ज्ञान के लिए भूख पैदा करेंगे। फिर वे इसका सब कु छ सोख लेंगे। तब ये
बच्चे आर्थिक रूप से सशक्त हो जाएंगे। कविता एक शक्तिशाली पंक्ति के साथ समाप्त होती है – जो लोग इतिहास बनाते हैं वे सूर्य की तरह
चमकते हैं।