Stephen Spender's poem describes the depressing conditions faced by students in an elementary school classroom located in a slum. The children's pale faces and thin frames illustrate their deprived state. While motivational pictures adorn the dirty walls, the realities of the children's lives are far removed from these idealized images. Trapped within the narrow confines of their impoverished world, the children's futures appear bleak and hopeless. In the final stanza, the poet appeals to authorities to break open the restrictions confining these children and expose them to nature, allowing their potential to blossom.

1. An Elementary school
Classroom in a Slum
BY STEPHEN SPENDER

2. Stephen Spender

3. This poem “An Elementary School
Classroom in a Slum” was a par t of
“The God that Failed”, 1949.

4. The poem written by Stephen spender
describes the social inequalities which are
existing in the society. In the poem he
describes the condition of the students of
an elementary school which is situated in a
slum area. The poet wants to draw attention
of everyone towards these kids so that their
life can be improved and they may get
trained to become good citizens rather than
criminals.

5. Rhyme scheme of the poem The poem has been written in
free verse. It does not have
rhyme scheme.

6. FIRST STANZA
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 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.

7. • Gusty - blowing strongly
• Weeds - useless wild plants
• Torn round - scattered around
in disorder
• Weighed down - bent down due to
depression and burden of poverty
• Paper seeming - looking lean and
thin
• Stunted - under developed
• Heir - successor
• Reciting - repeating
• Gnarled - knotty, twisted
• Unnoted - not noticed
• Other than this - other than this
room of the school

8. Far far from gusty waves these
children’s faces.
Far far – very far away
Gusty waves- strong wind full of energy
The face of the children are very far from
being energetic as they should be

9. Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
• Weeds – unwanted
plant
• Rootless- without any
foundation
• Pallor- pale
so these are unwanted
without any binding
without any foundation.
Their faces are pale due
to lack of nutrition.

10. The tall girl with her weighed-down
head. The paper
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.
• Tall girl(adj) – older girl in the class
• Weighed-down head- her head is low
due to poverty
• The paper seeming boy(metaphor) –
the boy is like paper i.e.., he is thin
like a paper due to poverty and his
skin is white means he is pale in
colour.

11. seeming boy, with
rat’s eyes.
• Boy, with rat’s eyes(metaphor)- which tells
the expression of the boy’s eye that is
selfish. He just want to get everything
because he is poor.

12. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk.
Next the poet describing another boy
who could not even stand of poverty.
He is siting in his place and reciting the
lesson. Only the poverty he has
inheritance from his father.

13. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young.
The poet describing one more
boy in the class siting at the
dark end in the classroom, so
he is unnoted in the classroom.
The poet making comparison
between the two boys i.e., the
boy who is sitting in dark end in
the class and rats eye boy

14. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.
Poet says this boys eyes are bright as
he is dreaming of escaping from the
class. He is dreaming that he is
playing in the tree room i.e.,. Tree
house. He want to escape from the
dim closed close room to bright tree
house and to play with squirrels.

15. Stephen Spender shows us that the condition of the children in a
slum school is pathetic. Their world is far from our healthy, fresh
environment.

16. They are like rootless weeds,
unwanted and cast out. Their hairs
are not combed and dirty and their
faces clearly show their existence.

17. She has a bowed down
head which shows the
burden of the stressed life
she leads. Another boy who
is as thin as a paper too has
the same under nourished
look on his face. He has a
scared expression in his
eyes.

18. These unlucky children
have only acquired
diseases and bad luck from
their parents. One of them
is even not able to get up
from his desk to read out
the lesson.

19. However, the poet says there is one particular boy
who is a little younger than the rest has still his
hopes and dreams with him. He waits for the time
when he can go out in the open to play. The
environment of gloom has not yet engulfed his
dreams and hopes.

21. • SECOND STANZA
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.

22. • Sour - unpleasant
• Tyrolese valley – valley in Tyrol in
Austria
• Sealed in – closed in
• Lead sky – bluish grey sky
(representing sorrow and
hopeless)
• Cape – part of land projecting
into a sea
• Civilized dome – institutions of the
civilized world! Society
• Belled – having bells
• Open handed map – map hung on the
classroom wall representing
important rich and civilized
people

23. On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
The wall of the class room are
“sour cream wall” means it is dirty
yellow in colour like sour cream.
Next he describes the posters on
the wall which is donated by the
people to the class.
One of them has a picture of
Shakespeare. His head is bald and
like rising sun.

24. Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Here the poet compares Shakespeare bald head to raising sun. raising
sun spreads it light to all the cities like wise our education also should
be useful for all the lives
Shakespeare is considered as a symbol of culture, education and
intelligence.

25. Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-
handed map
Awarding the world its world.
Second poster is of the Tyrolese Valley –
famous valley in the hilly area of Australia.
This Tyrolese Valley is full of churches and
flowers.
It symbolize the beauty of creation and nature.
Next picture is of the world map. Map is the
metaphor here. Map is used to signify sharing
its knowledge.

26. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
• Poet says all these picture which put in these wall
are meaningless for this children because their
world is different from which is in the picture. Their
world is dim and hopeless, because of poverty.
• These children doesn’t know who is Shakespeare
and where Tyrolese Valley is.
• The world out from these window are only poverty.

27. Where all their future’s painted with a
fog,
Poet says that they were in slum so they
doesn’t know. They don’t know the world
beyond slum. They are trapped in the slum so
their future were dim and hopeless

28. A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Their future is like narrow street i.e.
limited.
Sealed in with a lead sky is a
metaphor
These children future is also sealed
with the grey coloured sky
Grey coloured sky is a dark future
So they are covered with
hopelessness

29. Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of
words.
• Again the poet used ‘far far’ repletition
means very far away which means they are
very far away from the sea side, they are
very far from happiness
• Then he says about stars. Stars are shining
in the dark sky similarly the light of
education are far away from the children
who were in slum.

30. In the second stanza, the poet
describes the classroom which
is also dirty and neglected like
its inhabitants. The classroom
too exhibits an atmosphere of
depression and glum. The walls
are cream in colour and on
them the names of the donors
are engraved.

31. A bust of the great poet
Shakespeare with a background
of a sky is put on. The walls
have pictures of splendid
Tyrolese valley which is a sharp
contrast to the atmosphere of
the classroom.

32. There are maps on the walls
which show them the harsh
world from their classroom
windows. Their world presents
a future to them which is dark
and cruel. The poet brings out
a harsh reality of these
children. These children are
trapped in a hopeless situation
and their world is far from the
beautiful nature such as rivers,
valleys and seas.

33. THIRD STANZA
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 is foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

34. • Slyly - secretly
• Cramped - narrow
• Slag - waste material
• Peeped through -
emerging
• Foggy doom - full of
fog/ uncertain hell
• Their maps - maps
with places for the rich

35. Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
• The picture has no meaning for the children
• The postures are bad examples for the children

36. With ships and sun and love tempting them
to steal__
They are finding bad qualities in
everything so for them Shakespeare is
bad. So there is no use of keeping
Shakespeare picture in the classroom
These picture will force them to do
crimes like stealing instead of giving
love and acceptance

37. For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
• Cramped holes- metaphor
• Poet trying to say that their rooms
are like holes that is small room
and there are too many people
living in a small hole
• They adopted themselves to live in
these spaces

38. From fog to endless night? On their slag heap,
these children
• ‘from fog’ is a alliteration
• Fog is a metaphor used for day
• Endless night(metaphor)- their torture continues every night. The torture will not
ends.
• Their life is going towards an endless night.

39. Wear skins peeped through by
bones and spectacles of steel
The children are
very thin and their
skin looks like a
thin layered of
clothes on them.
Their bones can be
seen through their
skin clothes it
means they are lack
of nutrition

40. With mended glass, like
bottle bits on stones.
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 which 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.
‘like bottle bits on stones.’ similie

41. All of their time and space is foggy slum.
These lines are metaphor
As these slums are getting bigger, they will
destroy the future of these children
The children life is dark and hopeless

42. So blot their maps
with slums as big as
doom.
The government and the school
are not giving chance to these
children to escape from this slum
it is very difficult for such kids to
escape from them.

43. Stephen Spender
suddenly attacks
Shakespeare and calls
him ‘wicked.’ He
says so because he
feels Shakespeare has
poisoned the
children’s mind by
misleading them that
their world is beautiful;
it has corrupted the
young minds which in
turn had made them to
steal and escape from
their confinements.

44. The poet feels
deep rooted
sadness for
the condition
of the slum
children. The
children are so
skinny that
they seem to

45. The glasses of the spectacles seem to have been mended several
times. The total appearance of the children show their deprivation
and under nourished conditions. The poet feels that the classroom
should have pictures of huge slums instead of those scenic graphics.

46. FOURTH STANZA
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.

47. • This map becomes their windows - the
map of the world becomes their map
and may include places like the little
school in a slum
• Shut up their lives - block their
progress
• Catacombs - burial chambers
(implying the near death existence of
these children)
• Azure - sky-blue
• Gold sands - golden sand on the coast
• Tongues run naked - express
themselves freely

48. Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
• 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.

49. This map becomes their window and these windows
• Government should visit
these places and change
their life.
• They should make the
children to realize what is in
the outside of the slum

50. That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
• 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 public to help these kids in
achieving their dreams

51. Break O break open till they break the town
• Break o break means alliteration and repetition
means government to help these children to take
out of the slum and make their dream to come
real.

52. And show the children to green fields, and
make their world
• They should be shown green
field rather than the dim
slum
• As this will take them away
from fog to 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.

53. Run azure on gold sands,
and let their tongues
• Azure is deep blue sky
• The children should take from gray cloud to
the azure sky
• He wants these kids to experience the sands
and the beauty of nature as this will led to a
desire of gaining knowledge.

54. Run naked into books the white and green
leaves open
White and green leaves is a
metaphor
White means paper in book
Green means prosperity
They will then go through the
white and green leaves. Here
white leaves depict books and
green leaves depict nature.

55. History theirs whose language is the sun.
• This will then result in their progress and they will be able to paint a bright future for
themselves.
• The only people who create history will enjoy the sun!
• Sun signifies the bright future

56. •Anaphora: Use of repeated words in
two consecutive lines (Run azure. And
Run naked)

57. In the final stanza of “An
Elementary School Classroom in a
Slum” the poet uses a pacifying
tone and appeals to the governor,
inspector and the visitors to do
something about the condition of
these slum schools.

58. • The map showing the beautiful world can be their reality
too if a little will and effort are put together. The poet
hopes for a better future of these children. He wants the
authorities to realize their responsibilities and free the
children from such grave-like confinements.

59. He wants the barriers to be pulled down. The
children must break away from the school
boundaries and enjoy the world beyond. Only
that way they can enjoy the nature- the green
fields and the golden sands. The poet wants
them to sail, explore and discover the world
so that someday their names are found in
history books.

60. Tone of The Poem
The tone of the poem is
somber and philosophical.
The theme revolves around
the profound problem that
affects our society at large.
The universal gap between
rich and the poor is
highlighted. It also highlights
the irony of the life in the
twenty-first century where
the world has made so many
advancements yet an
atmosphere of gloominess
prevails.

61. Theme of the poem
The poem deals with
themes of poverty and
alienation among
children living in a slum.
The poet uses the setting
of an elementary school
classroom located in a
slum to explore these
themes and concludes
with a rallying cry for
improvement in the lives
of the slum children.