An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

By Stephen Spender    

 

ABOUT THE POET

 

Spender was born in London in 1909. His parents were both literary people, his father being a journalist while his mother was a painter and a poet.

Theirs was middle class society and, typically for those days, they tended to despise the ways of the working class. His parents' attitude would naturally influence the poet as a young boy -- hence the theme of his poem "My parents kept me from children who were rough".  

 

The poet initially attended Oxford University but did not finish his degree. Indeed, he later boasted about the fact that he had never ever passed an exam in his whole life.  

While he was at Oxford, however, he fell under the influence of the poet W.H. Auden with whom he did some major collaboration. Later he would also pal up with both Louis MacNeice and Cecil Day-Lewis, as well has many other rising English poets.  

Instead of finishing his degree, Spender spent time in Germany where he studied some of the German poets.  

 Germany during the 1920s was a hotbed of socialism and Spender became caught up in this political movement -- becoming for a time an ardent admirer of communism itself.  

The world in which he lived, however, quickly came to be dominated by a struggle between fascism and communism, and Spender became involved in this clash of ideals. Indeed, he even launched himself into the Spanish Civil War where he sided with the socialist forces opposed the fascist dictator, General Franco.

Despite his lack of a degree, Spender's proven poetic track record allowed him to teach at various American universities. In 1965 he Was appointed "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry" to the United States Library of Congress.  

 He would eventually return to England, however, where he took up a post as Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College and, later, Professor of English at the University College in London.  

As early as 1962, Spender was awarded a C.B.E. and in 1983 he was honoured with a knighthood for his poetry. He died in 1995 at the age of 86.

 

     IN A NUTSHELL

In this poem, the poet has concentrated on themes such as social injustice and class inequalities.  In the first stanza, the poet describes the students in an elementary classroom of a school located in a slum. The students are all malnourished and poverty-stricken. Their hair hang around their pale, wan faces like rootless weeds, unkempt and dirty. There is a tall girl with her head weighed down due to weakness and misery. A very thin, undernourished boy watches with bulging, rat-like eyes. There is also a small boy, who has inherited a disease of twisted bones from his father. However, at the back of the class is a sweet, unnoticed boy, dreaming innocently of a squirrel’s game in a tree room, which shows that he is hopeful of a bright future.
The walls of the classroom are sour cream in colour and peppered by donations such as a poster of William Shakespeare, domed buildings in civilised cities, flowery Tyrolese valley, the world map, etc. But for these children in the slum, the pictures on the walls have no meaning. This is because their world is different from what is shown in the posters. Their futures are painted with fog, i.e., unclear and dull. Their world is just a narrow street with a lead sky (signifies sadness and misery). Their world is far from the rivers and capes in the posters

According to the poet, all the pictures and donations are a bad example to these students. The pictures of ships, sun and love tempt them to choose the wrong path and steal. For children in such a bad condition in the slums, their time and space are foggy, miserable slums. Therefore, the maps on their walls should be blotted with huge slums and false promises should not be made.
The windows, which show these students the scene of the slum outside, close upon their lives like catacombs. So, unless a governor, inspector or visitor feels pity on these students and encourages them, these children will be doomed. Instead of making false promises, these people need to give better educational opportunities to these children so that they may have a better future.

 An elementary school classroom in a slum was published by Stephen Spender in 1964. The poem resonates the poet’s political views and brings forth the difficulties faced by the kids in slums. This poem was written to highlight the social injustice prevailing at that time in the world. The following article summarizes his views and is divided stanza-wise for ease in understanding.

Stanza 1

The poet says that the condition of the children in a slum school is pathetic. Their world is far removed from the open, healthy environment. They are as unwanted as the rootless weeds. Their hair is unkempt and they have pale faces which clearly indicate their deprived and under-nourished condition. These children, as the tall girl, are stressed by the burden of their circumstances. They are exhausted both physically as well as emotionally. The paper thin boy is skinny. His eyes have a scared look. These unfortunate beings have inherited only disease and bad luck from their parents. One of diseased ones can’t even get up from the desk to recite his lesson. However, there is one child at the back of the class who is younger than the others. His inexperienced eyes are full of hope and he is dreaming about playing games in the open. Apparently gloom has still not enveloped him.

Stanza 2

The classroom walls have a dirty appearance as they haven’t been painted for a long time. In other words, these children inhabit a world which is dreary and depressing. On the walls are displayed the names of people who have given donations. The bust of Shakespeare with the background of a clear sky at the time of sun-rise is also displayed. The walls also have scenic pictures of Tyrolese Valley with its beautiful flowers presenting a world of the heavenly splendor. Apart from all this, the walls also have a map revealing the world which they view from the classroom’s windows which is foggy and harsh. It represents a dark and bleak future with no hope for amelioration. Their eyes can only view a narrow road which is enclosed with a dull sky. The poet suggests that these children are trapped in a hopeless situation and their reality is far removed from the literary world which glistens with the beauty of nature such as the rivers and the high land jutting from the sea.

 Stanza 3

The pensive poet suddenly turns belligerent (aggressive) and feels that Shakespeare is ‘wicked’. This is because he misleads the children. He shows them a beautiful world of ships, sun and love which is not only unreal for them but it has a corrupting influence on these children and instigates them to steal and try to escape from their cramped holes. Their existence is indeed, very sad. These emaciated children are so thin that it appears that they are ‘wearing’ skins. The spectacles they are wearing have glass which has been broken and mended. Their entire appearance reeks of their deprivation. The poet shows his outrage by suggesting that the maps on their walls should show huge slums instead of beautiful scenic graphics.

Stanza 4

In a conciliatory tone the poet appeals to the governor, inspector and visitor to do something to improve their condition. If there is political will this map showing the beautiful world outside can become their reality too. The poet hopes the authorities would realize their moral responsibilities and free these children from their grave-like entrapments. He wants all the barriers to be pulled down; barriers that keep away true education from them. The children must be given freedom to experience the wholesome bounties of nature-view the green fields and run on ‘gold sand’. Let them read books and let them breathe in fresh air. Let them discover themselves and let them be creative so that their names can also enter the books of history. Let them find their place in the sun.

QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS

1.Where does the slum exist? How do you know this?

 The slum exists far away from the seas and oceans and rivers where rich    
 and  prosperous people live. Prosperity is found in cities and cities generally  
 stand on the coastal regionsof the world. As the slum is away from the gusty   
 waves of the seas, they are far awayfrom seas too.
 2.Why is the hair of the children here compared to rootless weeds?
  When weeds are rootless they are dead and decayed. Similarly the slum- 
  children   have their hair without being groomed or nourished properly. Their    
  hair tangle on  their faces without any order.

 3.Why is the tall girl’s head weighed down?

 There is possibly more than one reason for the tall girl’s head being weighed down. In the first place she, being big and responsible, is burdened by her own terrible life. Secondly, the girl, being tall, is ashamed of studying with small kids.

   4. 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.

    a).What does the expression, paper seeming boy, suggest the        

       appearance of the boy?

         The boy is as thin as paper due to malnutrition and poor upbringing.

    b) Why are the boy’s eyes compared to that of a rat’s?

       A rat’s eyes are always restless. They are always in search of something   

      and look for dangers. The boy here is also searching for something other  
      than the attractions  inside the classroom.

    c)  How does the term, stunted, describe the unlucky boy’s        

         appearance?

       The boy’s growth was slowed by his poor conditions. Poverty and  

      malnutrition  have tortured his body and spirit. He looks like a living

      skeleton.

   d) Why is the boy unlucky?
     The boy has nothing at hand to be lucky. What he has inherited from his          
      father is a  cruel disease. Poverty is his companion. A skeleton-like figure   
       is what he is. Hunger gleams in his eyes and helplessness echoes in his  
       heart.
   e) What has the boy inherited from his father?
     The boy has inherited neither money nor great legacy nor property from his   
     father. He inherited his father’s gnarled disease.
    f) How does the unlucky boy ‘recite’ his father’s decease from his
    desk?
      The unlucky boy is suffering from the same gnarled disease that his father  
      too was  suffering  from. When asked to recite his lessons in the class, the  
      boy struggles to do so  due to his ailment/disease.
    g) What do you understand by ‘gnarled disease?’
      The possible ‘gnarled disease’ of the unlucky boy is either polio or uneven   
       growth of bones or even tuberculosis.
( To be contd)

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