An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum
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 leady sky,
Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.
(i) Who are these children?(ii) What does ‘fog’ mean in the above lines?
(iii) Explain : Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.
(i) These are the slum children of Tyrol Valley.
(ii) Here the ‘fog’ means that the future of the 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.
(iii) The world of slum children is much far away from rivers, capes and stars. In a way their fate is closed in narrow surroundings.
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Tick the item which best answers of the following:
What do you think is the colour of “sour cream?” Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
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?
What does the poet want for the children of the slums ? How can their lives be made to change?
Have you ever visited or seen an elementary school in a slum? What does it look-like?
How does Stephen Spender depict the life of the children of ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum?
What is the unnoted boy doing at the back of the classroom?
How is the future of the children of an elementary school in a slum depicted by poet Stephen Spender?
Why does Stephen Spender call the slum children of Tyrol as unsung fighters? What is his appeal for them?
How does Spender interpret the poverty stricken yet onward struggling men in the poem : ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum?’
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