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?

(b) Explain: 'from fog to endless night'.

(c) What does the reference to 'slag heap' mean?

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?’

How does Stephen Spender picturise the children in ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?

Or