An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Stephen Spender

Introduction:

The poem concentrates on the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. The plight of impoverished, and deprived children of a school in a slum area is described here. Their classroom is shabby; the pictures on the wall depict the wonderful world outside, which is out of reach for the children. The children are condemned to a dismal life as they are caught in a web of poverty and exposed to the indifference of the society around them. It is inhuman to show them glimpses of a better world, confusing them, tempting them to give in to deception and using unfair means to achieve what that world promises. The poet concludes with the hope that someone who is in a position to help them, (governor, inspector, visitor) will take on the moral responsibility of giving these children meaningful education and leading them from their narrow alleys and bleak worlds to the wonderful world of letters. If that is not done, then these classrooms will be the cemetery of their dreams.

Summary

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ by Stephen Spender presents the description of the poor children in the first stanza. The children who read in that elementary school have some common physical features. Their faces seem to the poet as “rootless weeds” and their “hair torn around their pallor” or pale face. There is a tall girl in the class. Her physique is so weak that her body cannot hold the weight of her head. The eyes of a boy in the class look like that of a rat. Another boy sitting in the classroom has some hereditary bone disorder. He is seen by the poet reading his lesson. “At the back of the dim class,” an “unnoted, sweet and young” boy is dreaming about the “squirrel’s game.”

In the second stanza, Stephen Spender says that the white walls or “sour creams walls” of the classroom contain the inscriptions of donations besides the picture of Shakespeare. Thereafter the poet provides the details of the outside world, which is much different from that of the slum kids. There are “civilized domes” and the “flowery” valleys like Australian Tyrol. The kids living in that world have an “open-handed” map to discover whatever places they want. In contrast, the children of the slum school cannot come out of “their world.” The “narrow street” of their world is sealed in with the “lead sky,” symbolizing darkness and pessimism. At last, the poet reiterates that those kids are deprived of the scenic beauties of the “civilized world”

In the third stanza, The poet thinks that the ships, sun, and love in Shakespeare’s works might have tempted the slum children to dream. When they come out of their dreamy world, they find themselves in their “cramped” hole-like rooms and the heap of “slag” around. These children suffer from malnutrition. They have other physical ailments too. There are no scopes of improvement in their “foggy slum.” That’s why Stephen Spender tells the privileged class to “blot their maps with slums as big as doom.”

At last, the poet is sure about their upheaval. The agents of the upper class have tried to shut the window of opportunity upon their lives. Spender thinks it cannot stop them. One day they will break open the shackles and run to the green fields. The golden sands below and the azure sky above will be their world. Nature with her books’ white and green pages will provide knowledge and inspiration. They don’t need the linguistics of the “class” since they know the language of nature. With this note of optimism, Stephen Spender ends his poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum.’

Detailed explanation of the poem

Stanza 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. 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. His eyes live in a dream

Of squirrel's game, in tree room, other than this.

Word meaning

  1. Gusty waves: breezy winds
  2. Pallor: pale, dull face
  3. Stunted: not fully grown due to malnutrition
  4. Gnarled: Knotted, rough
  5. weeds: unwanted plants that grow on their own
  6. Paper seeming boy: Very thin boy, as thin as a sheet of paper
  7. heir: Successor

Explanation: The poet describes the children who study in an elementary school that 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 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.

Word meaning

  1. Sour: unpleasant, here refers to the colour of sour cream -off white or creamish
  2. Donations: things given or received in charity
  3. Dawn: early morning, sunrise
  4. civilized dome: here, it means rising sun at the horizon which is in the shape of a dome (semi–circle)
  5. Tyrolese valley: A beautiful ice-free valley in Austria
  6. Sealed: shut or locked
  7. lead: here, dark future of kids
  8. 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 colour like the colour 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 a 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 slums.

So blot their maps with slums as big as doom

Word meaning

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 a 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 that 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, the 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.

Word meaning

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 the public to help these kids in achieving their dreams. As this will take them away from fog to the 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)

Poem-2

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

By Stephen Spender

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Poem Introduction

Stephen Spender's poem describes the social inequalities that exist in today's society. In the poem, he describes the situation of students at an elementary school in a slum area. The poet wishes to draw everyone's attention to these children in order to improve their lives and train them to be good citizens rather than criminals.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Poem Summary

Stephen Spender's poem depicts the story of a schoolroom in a slum and the children who attend it. The children's expressions are lifeless. Their appearance indicates that they are unwelcome. The children have sad expressions on their faces. Because they were poor, their heads hung low in sadness. They are poor and have diseased bodies inherited from their parents. At the far end of the room, one child sits with bright eyes, as if he is dreaming of playing outside with squirrels. He stands out among the others in the dim, darkroom.

The classroom walls are filthy. People have donated various charts and images that have been placed on them. One of them is a picture of Shakespeare, the great playwright. His bald head resembles the rising Sun. The next poster depicts the Tyrolese valley, which is full of churches and flowers, symbolising nature's beautiful creations. Another is a map of the entire world. To these children, the world is not the one depicted in these images, but rather the one visible through the classroom window. They are suffocated in the slums. Their futures are bleak and hopeless. They have a dark future as their options in life are limited and are covered with dismay. They are far from the bright light of knowledge.

These pictures are beyond their comprehension. They hate everyone, and Shakespeare is a wicked man in their eyes. They dislike everyone because no one loves them. Their desire for love and acceptance drives them to commit crimes such as stealing. The children are so thin that their clothes feel like skin and their skeleton can be seen through them. This is due to a nutritional deficiency. They wear worn-looking steel glasses that are cheap, heavy, and uncomfortable. Their chances of realising their dreams and moving out have been further hampered by the construction of larger slums. They will never know what the world is like until they leave the slums.

The government system that creates these slums is the reason these people have to live in them. Because of the educational system, they are forced to live in slums. They are not allowed to dream beyond the confines of the slums. They've been restricted to the slums.

The poet asks the authorities to allow these children to leave the slums so that the maps on the classroom walls can become a reality for them. They should be relocated to green fields rather than dark slums. The bright blue sky and the sun-kissed, warm sand of the beaches will help spark their interest in learning. Then they will absorb everything. These children will then gain economic independence. The poem concludes with a powerful line: "Those who make history shine like the Sun."

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Poem Explanation

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.

  • 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

The poet describes the children who attend an elementary school in a slum area. According to the poet, children's faces are dull and completely lacking of energy. They don't have the same amount of energy as other kids their age. These children are like unwanted weed. The writer intends to say here that these children appear to be unwanted, much like the unwanted weeds that grow on their own in the fields. Their hair isn't neatly styled. It falls on their pale faces, as if they've been ripped apart. The kids are dirty, and they haven't combed their hair. Then he describes a tall girl who appears to be impoverished. Her head is bent, possibly due to exhaustion or embarrassment. Another boy has been compared to a sheet of paper because he is so weak and thin. The boy's eyes are filled with greed, and he desires to achieve everything. Then he talks about another student who has a physical disability. According to the poet, this boy is unlucky because he inherited a disease from his father, resulting in a deformed body. Instead of receiving any assistance from his father, he has inherited a disease. This disabled boy is reciting his lesson while sitting on his bench. A small boy sat in the back of the class, in a dim, dark area, and was not visible to the poet because he was sitting in darkness. The poet could see his eyes, which were bright and dreamy. He was paying no attention in class. He appeared to be more 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

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.

  • 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

The poet describes the school's walls. They have a cream colour, similar to sour cream. This means that the walls are dirty and haven't been painted in a long time. The walls are covered in various charts and images that must have been donated by various people. On the wall is a portrait of Shakespeare. His bald head resembles the rising sun on the horizon. At daybreak, the Sun is semi-circular, resembling a dome shape, rising at the horizon. It appears to be the driving force behind all of the cities. There is a photograph of the famous Tyrolese valley, which is filled with beautiful flowers. There is an image of a map, which helps everyone in their own way. The map of the world, however, is meaningless to these children because the slum where they live differs from what is depicted on the map. Their world is limited to what they see through the classroom window – the slum. Their future is filled with uncertainty. Their future is compared to a narrow street, implying that there is no opportunity for growth in the future. These children are far from the enlightening light of education and knowledge.

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

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

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

The poet goes on to say that these slum children have been through so much that they consider everyone to be their enemy. Shakespeare is a bad man in their eyes. They don't think the map is a good idea. They were disliked and hated by everyone. As a result, they hate almost everyone. They steal because they want to be loved by others. They live in small houses and have begun to adjust. Their lives are sliding into an endless night. This means that their future will be filled with darkness. These children are so thin that their bones can be seen through the thin layer of skin. Their skin is like a thin layer of cloth, and the bones beneath can be seen through it. These children are malnourished. They are outfitted with steel spectacles. They are inexpensive and extremely uncomfortable. The lenses in the spectacles are also repaired. The spectacles resemble broken stones with shards of glass protruding from them. The poet attempts to explain why these children face so many difficulties in their lives. As these slums grow in size, they will destroy the futures of these children, and it will be extremely difficult for such children to escape 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)

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.

  • Catacombs: tomb, cemetery
  • Azure: deep blue

The poet says that the government should take notice of the problems that these children are facing. He urges them to change these children's lives and make the world map a reality for them. There is a need to remove the constraints imposed on them as a result of poverty and a lack of resources. He wants the governor and the general public to assist these children in achieving their goals. As this will lift them from fog to azure sky, the poet wishes to convey that the children will be moved from the darkness of their present to a bright future. He wants these children to experience the sands and the beauty of nature, as this will inspire them to gain knowledge more. They will then proceed to sift through the white and green leaves. White leaves represent books, while green leaves represent nature. This will result in their advancement, and they will be able to rebuild 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)

About the Poet

Sir Stephen Harold Spender was born in London on February 28, 1909. He studied at Oxford and fought in the Spanish Civil War. He was friends with W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Louis MacNeice, and C. Day Lewis in the 1920s and 1930s, and his early poetry was often inspired by social protest. Spender worked for the London fire department during WWII. From 1939 to 1941, he was the editor of Horizon magazine, which he co-founded with Cyril Connolly. From 1953 to 1966, he was the editor of Encounter magazine. Twenty Poems (1930), Vienna (1934), The Still Centre (1939), Poems of Dedication (1946), and The Generous Days (1947) are among Spender's poetry collections (1971). From 1970 to 1977, Spender was a professor of English at University College, London, and he gave frequent lecture tours in the United States. In 1983, he was knighted. Spender passed away on July 16, 1995.