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1. Flamingo Poems
Standard 12
1 - My Mother At Sixty-six.
2 - An Elementary School
Classroom In a Slum.
3 - Keeping Quiet.
4 - A Thing Of Beauty.
5 - A Roadside Stand.
6 - Aunt Jennifer's Tigers.
Alka Sharma

2. AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM
- By Stephen Spender
"An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" was first published in 1964 in Stephen
Spender's Selected Poems. The poem has since appeared in several collections,
including Collected Poems 1928–1985, published in 1985. "An Elementary School
Classroom in a Slum" is perhaps the best example of Spender's political voice resonating
throughout a poem. In this poem, Spender expresses his ideological positions on
government, economics, and education. The students in this classroom are
underprivileged and malnourished. The capitalistic government is supposed to supply
equal opportunity for education, but the classroom in the slum offers little hope for
change or progress for its lower-class students. This poem, written during the time of the
Civil Rights movement in the United States, is fitting both in its commentary about race
issues in American education and as a Socialist proclamation against capitalism and social
injustice in general. Although Spender was British, his extreme left-leaning political
ideologies were in response to the global question concerning social injustice. His poem
does not explicitly name any country, location, race, or citizenship. Spender's intent was
to shed light on social injustices worldwide; regardless of Spender's own ethnicity, the
hotbed of this global struggle was the American Civil Rights movement.

3. Stanza- 1
Far far from gusty waves…heir: Successor.
1. The poem portrays a picture of an elementary school in a slum area
2. Deprived of basic facilities such as-nutritional food, balanced diet,
air, sun. shine and potable water, children are least interested in
studies
3. The tall girl and paper seeming boy-all are victims of malnutrition;
they are suffering from various diseases
4. A boy sitting at the back is dreaming of squirrel's game. He has no
interest in class-room activity.
5. 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.

4. Stanza-2
On sour cream walls,…capes, and stars of words.
1. The class-room wall contains pictures and paintings -like
Shakespeare's head developed cities with skyscrapers Tyrolese
valley aesthetically beautiful, problem free world (cloudless at
down)-they came by donations.
2. These pictures belong to the world of the rich and
prosperous.
3. The world of these poor and deprived children contrasts
with the world depicted on class- room walls.
4. The rich have drawn an open handed map which is of no
use to them as their world is limited to the end of the street.
5. Far from rivers, capes and stars of words, their future is
bleak and uncertain

5. Stanza- 3
Surely, Shakespeare is ...as big as doom.
• Shakespeare is wicked and map a bad example as they
do not correspond to their limited, narrow world.
• Ships and Sun depicted on the wall tempt them to
experience the world of the rich with all its glory.
• However, they can not get this opportunity as the
responsible people do not want it.
• These malnourished children wearing mended glasses
oscillate between fog and endless night, having
uncertain life with no future.
• They pass all their time and space in the hell (the
slum). This hell is a blot on the civilised world.

6. Stanza-4
Unless, governor, inspector,…whose language is the
sun.
1. poet calls upon governor, inspector and visitor
(representing power and position) to review the system
before it is too late.
2. The revised system should empower these children to
break away from the shakles of poverty and deprevation.
3. He urges the civilised people to help them enjoy all the
facilities such as blue-sky, sun-shine, sea-waves, fresh air,
good and sufficient nutritious diet.
4. Let the pages of wisdom be open for them and their
tongues may run freely on the white leaves of books.
5. Only those people find a place in history whose
language has the warmth and power of the sun.

7. POETIC DEVICES- 1
• SIMILE
• like rootless weeds untidy and unkempt hair of the slum
children, children lack proper nutrition, unwanted like
weeds
• like bottle bits on stones slum children sitting on the slag
heap look like the bits and pieces of glass shattered against
a stone, their hopes, aspirations, ambitions and lives also
lie shattered and neglected.
• like catacombs slum children dwell in dark and dingy
rooms which resemble catacombs. The windows of these
rooms look like the lids of catacombs.
• slums as big as dooms Slums where life is worse than
death. It is like living in a hell.

8. POETIC DEVICES- 2
• METAPHOR
• rat‟s eyes Suggests boy‟s timidity and anxiety, timid
like a rat and searches for food and security.
• future‟s painted with a fog just as fog blurs one‟s
vision in winters, the slum children‟s future is blurred
by hopelessness and lack of empathy.
• lead sky lead sky is dark and dull, just as the metal
whereas the sky is normally bright. There is no hope
for the slum children.
• spectacles of steel - suggests that some slum children
are wearing spectacles made of steel, having shattered,
chipped or scratched glass.

9. POETIC DEVICES- 3
• Pun reciting
a) literal- the boy is reciting the lesson.
Figurative – he is more prominently reciting his father‟s disease i.e.
repeating his father‟s disease of twisted bones and deformity which
has been passed down through generations
b) sour cream: literal - the neglected walls have turns a dirty yellow.
Figurative - a dismal place where all dreams would turn sour
c) lead sky- literal- sky polluted with industrial fumes.
Figurative: A sky that does not open opportunities but weighs down
heavily blocking all escape from the slums.
• Repetition- Break O break open till they break the town

10. POETIC DEVICES- 4
• Imagery
• Gusty waves
• Rootless weeds
• Paper-seeming boy
• Sour-cream wall
• Squirrel’s game - fun outdoors to escape the dull classroom
• civilized dome riding all cities- cities that show civilizational progress and marvellous
architecture (ALSO PERSONIFICATION – riding all cities)
• Open-handed map- (a map drawn arbitrarily by the people in power and the privileged)
• map with slums as big as doom- the grim reality of the lives of slum children
• fog- bleak and unclear
• ships and sun- adventure and beautiful lands offering opportunity
• slag heaps- industrial waste, toxic filth and squalor
• windows –windows of the slum classroom do not open out to opportunities and the wide
world. They show only fog covered slums; and if the children are not allowed to break open
out of these slums the windows will close on them burying them in endless misery,
hopelessness and doom them to death-like existence.
• Green fields, gold sand - nature and golden opportunities;
• white and green leaves - first- hand knowledge from pages of books and nature
• run azure- experience the rich colours of nature
• sun – symbol of enlightenment ; of equal blessing/ equality

11. Central Idea of the Poem
• Stephen Spender has presented a true picture of the life of
the school children living in the slum of Tyrolese Valley of
Austrian Alpine Province. The children are in a very
miserable condition due to their poverty and illiteracy. They
are depressed. Their pale faces express sadness. They look
lean, skinny and bonny. They are like rootless weeds which
can’t resist anything for their existence. They are physically
very weak and under nourished. Spender voices his
concern for these children who live all their life in slums
and have no opportunity to enjoy the real blessings of life.
He makes a frantic appeal to the educated and affluent
sections of the society to better the lot of the slum children
through education. It will remove social injustice and class
inequality.

12. Theme-1 (Poverty)
The theme of poverty is principal to the poem "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum." Spender
creates a crisp image of children in poverty through his descriptions of dire situations and mal-
nourished students, revealing a sad, hidden segment of society that was prevalent throughout the
world. He is not commenting directly on any particular nation in his poem; instead, he exposes the
widespread neglect of children of all nationalities, races, and ethnicities. It is poverty that has caused
the students in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" to be "weighed-down," "paper-
seeming," diseased, and "twisted." Spender believes this poverty is created through the oppressive
power of capitalism. This poem was written during the American Civil Rights movement, and
although Spender was British, the injustice that occurred in the United States was a global issue that
affected the entire world, especially close English-speaking allies like Britain. Spender was affected by
the struggles for equality in the United States because of his staunch dedication to social and political
reforms. Although this poem was written during this time of oppressive racial injustice in America,
Spender does not directly focus on a select group of underprivileged children, based on race,
religion, or creed. Instead, he hones the content of his poem and remarks about the social injustice
imposed upon all children, making it much more difficult to ignore. When the spotlight is cast upon a
select group of individuals, certain members of particular groups are able to shrug their shoulders or
cast a doubtful eye at the authenticity of the group's plight. However, when the spotlight is cast upon
children writ large, no one can turn a blind eye. Regardless of their upbringing, history, race, or
ethnicity, children are innocent beings dependent on the helping hands of humanity. Without aid,
children are effectively left to die, and adults who do not help are left with an undeniable sense of
guilt and worthlessness. Spender cultivates these emotions in his poem and uses them to his
advantage, delivering a powerful message about poverty, its effect on children, and the oppressive
power of money.

13. Theme- 2
Communism and Education
• Karl Marx firmly states in The Communist
Manifesto that education is "social, and determined by
the social conditions under which you educate, by the
intervention of societ1y, direct or indirect, by means of
schools." Spender thoroughly supports this statement
in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" and
asks for a complete subversion of the dominant social
model with regard to its direct and indirect
intervention in schools. Although this poem may not
be perceived wholly as a Communist poem, a keen
dissection of its parts clearly reveals a Marxist solution
to the educational crisis caused by poverty.

14. Short Answer Type Questions- 1
1. How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in the slum?
Ans. Shakespeare is wicked because its portrait in the classroom does not have any meaning for the slum
children. Similarly, the map is a bad example as the world depicted in it is out of reach for the slum children.
2. What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum?
Ans. The poet, Stephen Spender, wants that the children of the slums should break free from the rut of their
dirty existence and experience nature at its best. They should be educated and be able to transform
themselves.
3. How does the map of the wall tempt the slum children?
Ans. The map of the wall shows beautiful rivers, mountains and valleys. As the slum children have not seen any
of the things shown in the map, they are tempted to see these things in reality.
4. What change does the poet hope for in the lives of the slum children?
Ans. The poet wishes for a better life for the children of the slums. He wants them to have access to education
because education is the key to prosperity. They should be given countless opportunities to explore the world.
5. To whom the poet in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ make an appeal? What is the
appeal?
Ans. The poet makes an appeal to his readers, especially the educated and the well-off-people, to help the
poor children of the slum come out and get free from their miserable surroundings. His appeal is that these
children should be given quality education, because education holds the key to their emancipation.
6. The poet says, “And yet, for these children, these windows, not this map, their world.” Which world do
these children belong to? Which world is inaccessible to them?
Ans. These children belong to a world which is confined within the walls of their slum. They belong to a world
of poverty, misery and deprivation. The world represented on the map is inaccessible to them.

15. Short Answer Type Questions- 2
7. How can powerful persons viz. governor, inspector, visitor may contribute to improve the lot of
slum children?
Ans. Powerful persons like governors, inspectors and visitors may take an initiative and start abridging
the gap between the worlds of the rich and poor. They can play an important and effective role in
removing social injustice and class inequalities. They should break and dismantle all the barriers that
bind these children and confine them to the ugly surroundings. They will have their physical and mental
development only when they leave the filthy and ugly slums. All good things of life should be within
their reach. They must enjoy the freedom of expression.
8. How far do you agree with the statement: “History is theirs whose language is the sun.”
Ans. This metaphor contains a vital truth. This world does not listen to the ‘dumb and driven’ people.
Only those who speak with confidence, power, authority and vision are heard and obeyed. Those who
create history are people whose ideas and language can motivate, move, inspire and influence millions
of people. In order to be effective, their language must have the warmth and power of the Sun.
9. Stephen Spender while writing about an elementary classroom hi a slum, questions the value of
education in such a milieu, suggesting that maps of the world and good literature may raise hopes and
aspirations, which win never be fulfilled. Yet the gown offers a solution/hope. What is it?
Ans: The slum children are being imparted education in a room whose walls are off-white in colour but
are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, “world maps’ and ‘beautiful
valleys’. The maps of the world and good literature may raise hopes and aspirations. They may try to
steal slyly from their milieu but it is quite unlikely that their hopes and aspirations may be fulfilled. The
only solution/hope for them is to break the artificial barriers that bind and cramp them. Once free from
their milieu, they can enjoy beauty.

16. Extracts from the Poem- 1
1.Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.
Questions
(a)Where, do you think, are these children sitting?
(b)How do the faces and hair of these children look?
(c)Why is the head of the tall girl ‘weighed down’?
(d)What do you understand by ‘The paper-seeming boy, with rat eyes’ ?
(e) What is the condition of the boy?
(f) Give two phrases which tell us that the children are under-nourished.
Answers:
(a)These children are sitting in the school classroom in a slum which is far away from the winds or waves
blowing strongly.
(b)The faces of these children look pale. Their uncombed and unkempt hair look like rootless wild plants.
(c)The head of the tall girl is ‘weighed down’ by the burdens of the world. She feels depressed, ill and
exhausted.
(d)It means that the boy is exceptionally thin, weak and hungry.
(e) The boy sitting in the classroom is as thin as paper, due to malnutrition. He has bulging eyes like that of a
rat.
(f) The phrases are ‘like rootless weeds, and ‘the paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes’.

17. Extracts from the Poem- 2
2.…………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 the tree room, other than this.
Questions
(a)Who is the ‘unlucky heir’ and what will he inherit ?
(b)What is the stunted boy reciting ?
(c)Who is sitting at the ‘back of the dim class’ ?
(d) ‘His eyes live in a dream’—what dream does he have ?
(e) Explain, “reciting a father’s gnarled disease.”
(f) How has the ‘unlucky heir’ been depicted here?
Answers:
(a)The lean and thin boy having rat’s eyes and a stunted growth is the ‘unlucky heir’. He will inherit twisted
bones from his father.
(b)He is reciting a lesson from his desk. He is enumerating systematically how his father developed the knotty
disease.
(c)A sweet young boy sits at back of this dim class. He sits there unnoticed.
(d)The boy seems hopeful. He dreams of a better time—outdoor games, of a squirrel’s game, of a room made
inside the stem of a tree. He dreams of many things other than this dim and unpleasant classroom has, such as
green fields, open seas.
(e) The boy with stunted growth has inherited a disease from his father, which makes him a living example of
his father’s poverty and suffering.
(f) The ‘unlucky heir’ has been depicted here as one with stunted growth and twisted bones.

18. Extracts from the Poem- 3
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.
Questions
(a) What is the colour of the classroom walls?What does this colour suggest ?
(b) What do these classroom walls have ?
(c) Which two worlds does the poet hint at?How is the contrast between the two worlds presented?
(d) Explain:(i) ‘Open-handed map’
(ii) ‘Awarding the world its world’.
Answers:
(a)The colour of the classroom walls is ‘sour cream’ or off white. This colour suggests the decaying aspect and
pathetic condition of the lives of the children in a slum-school.
(b) The walls of the classroom have pictures of Shakespeare, buildings with domes, world maps and beautiful
valleys.
(c)The poet hints at two worlds : the world of poverty, misery and malnutrition of the slums where children are
underfed, weak and have stunted growth. The other world is of progress and prosperity peopled by the rich
and the powerful. The pictures on the wall suggesting happiness, richness, well being and beauty are in stark
contrast to the dim and dull slums.
(d) (i) ‘Open handed-map’ suggests the map of the world drawn at will by powerful people/ dictators like Hitler.
(ii) ‘Awarding the world its world’ suggests how the conquerors and dictators award and divide the world
according to their whims. This world is the world of the rich and important people.

19. Extracts from the Poem- 4
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 it with a lead sky
Far Far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Questions
(a)What are the ‘children’ refered to here?
(b) Which is their world?
(c) How is their life different from that of other children?
(d) What is the future of these children?
(e) Why is the future of these children “painted with a fog”?
(f) Which map is the poet talking about in the above lines?
Answers:
(a)Those children are referred to here who study in an elementary school classroom.
(b) Their world is limited to the window of the classroom. They are confined only within the
narrow streets of the slum, i.e., far away from the open sky and rivers. Their view is full of despair
and despondency. The life of the children seem to be bleak.
(c) “The slum children spend their life only in the narrow streets of the land. They do not get the
basic necessities of life. They are deprived of food, clothing and shelter. But the main thing that
they differ from other children is freedom. They do not enjoy the freedom of life.
(d) The future of these children is uncertain and bleak.
(e) The future of these children is dark and uncertain. So, the speaker says that it is painted with a
fog.
(f) The poet is talking about the map which depicts only the world of the rich and the important,
the world that comprises civilised domes, bells, flowers and the scenic beauty of nature.

20. Extracts from the Poem- 5
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?
Questions [Delhi 2014]
(a)Who are ‘them’ referred to in the second line?
(b)What tempts them?
(c)What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives?
(d)Explain: ‘From fog to endless night’.
(e) How do they live in their holes?
(f) What does the reference to ‘slag heap’ mean?
Answers:
(а)Here ‘them’ refers to the children studying in a slum school.
(b)All beautiful things like ships, sun and love tempt the children of slum school.
(c) The poet says that the children spend their lives confined in their cramped holes like rodents.
Their bodies look like skeletons because they are the victims of malnutrition. Their steel-frame
spectacles with repaired glasses make them appear like the broken pieces of a bottle scattered on
stones. Their future seems to be bleak.
(d) Their future is foggy or uncertain. The only certainty in their lives is the endless night of their
death. In other words, their birth, life and death are all enveloped by darkness.
(e) They live like rats in their cramped little holes. Their houses are small, dirty and congested.
Fog and darkness dominate their lives.
(f) The bloodless bodies of the poor children are referred to as ‘slag heap’.

21. Extracts from the Poem- 6
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.
AII of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Questions
(a)What are the two images used to describe these slums? What do these images convey?
(b)What sort of life do such children lead?
(c)What blot’ their maps? Whose maps?
(d)What does the poet convey through ‘So blot their maps with slums as big as doom’?
Answers:
(а)The images used to describe the slums are:
(i)slag heap (ii)bottle bits on stones (iii)foggy slums (iv)slums as big as doom. (Any two acceptable)
These images convey the misery of the children and the poverty of their dirty and unhygienic surroundings.
(b)In the dirty and unhygienic surroundings the slum children lead very pathetic and miserable lives full of
woes, wants, diseases, poverty and uncertainty.
(c) These living hells i.e. these dirty slums blot their maps. These are the maps of the civilized world—the world
of the rich and great.
(d) The poet conveys his protest against social injustice and class inequalities. He wants the islands of
prosperity to be flooded with the dirt and stink of the slums.

22. Extracts from the Poem- 7
7. Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their Window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs.
Questions
(a)Why does the poet invoke ‘governor’, ‘inspector’, ‘visitor’? What function are they expected to perform?
(b)How can ‘this map’ become ‘their window*?
(c)What have ‘these windows’ done to their lives?
(d)What do you understand by ‘catacombs’?
Answers:
(a)Governor, inspector and visitor are important and powerful persons in the modem times. The poet invokes
them to help the miserable slum children. They are expected to perform an important role in removing social
injustice and class inequalities. They can abridge the gap between the two worlds—the beautiful world of the
great and rich and the ugly world of slums.
(b)Two worlds exist. This map’ refers to the beautiful world of prosperity and well being inhabited by the rich
and great and shaped and owned by them. Their windows’ refer to the lairs, holes or hovels of the dirty,
stinking slums where the poor and unfortunate children of slums live. The slum children will be able to peep
through windows only when the difference between the two worlds is abridged.
(c)These windows’ of dirty surroundings have cramped their lives, stunted their growth and blocked their
physical as well as mental development. They have shut them inside their filthy, dull and drab holes like the
underground graves.
(d) ‘Catacombs’ means a long underground gallery with excavations in its sides for tombs. The name
catacombs, before the seventeenth century was applied to the subterranean cemeteries, near Rome.

23. Extracts from the Poem- 8
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.
Questions
(a)‘Break O break open’. What should they ‘break*?
(b)Explain: ‘. till they break the town’.
(c)Where will ‘their world’ extend up to then ?
(d)What other freedom should they enjoy?
Answers:
(a)They should break all the barriers and obstacles that bind these children and
confine
them to ugly and dirty surroundings.
(b)Till they come out of the dirty surroundings and slums of the town and come out to
the green field and breathe in the open air.
(c)Then their world will be extended to the gold sands and azure waves as well as to
the green fields.
(d) They should enjoy freedom of acquiring knowledge as well as freedom of
expression. Let the pages of wisdom (contained in the books) be open to them and let
their tongues run freely without any check or fear.