Introduction
- Stephen Spender Has Presented A
Picture Of The Life Of The School Children Living In The Slum.
- The
Children Are In Very Miserable Condition Due To Their Poverty.
-
Children Are Depressed, Their Faces Are Pale And Sad.
-
Children Are Skinny And Bonny And Physically Very Weak..
-
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.
Stanza- 1
Poet
Describes The Pathetic Conditions Of Children In A Slum School. He Says That The Bloodless Faces Of These
Children Are Far From Gusty Waves Of Life And Activity That Are A Mark Of
Childhood.
The Poet Has Compared These Children To Rootless Weeds As They Are Not Given Any Importance By Society. So, They Are Unwanted Like The Rootless Weeds. Their Untidy Hair Hanging Around Their White Pale Faces Looks Like Rootless
Weeds. There Is A Tall Girl Who Has Put Her Head Down. She Is Very Depressed, May Be Due To Extreme Poverty. (Burden Of Poverty ,
Family Issues)
There Is A Boy Who Is Very Thin And Has Eyes Which Bulge Out Like That Of A
Rat. There Is One More Boy Who Is Unlucky As He Had Inherited A Gnarled Bone Disease From His Father. His Growth Is Blocked And Body Remains Undeveloped At The Back Of The Class, There Is A Sweet Little Child. He Has Remained Unnoticed Because Of The Dim Light
In The Classroom. He Is Dreaming Of Squirrels Playing Games On Trees And He Also Wants To Go Out And Play Like A Squirrel But Cannot Do So.
Stanza - 2
The
Classroom Which Has Sour Cream Walls. They Are Dirty And Yellow And Are
Unpleasant. Picture Of Shakespeare’s Head A Cloudless Sky At Dawn, The Domes Of Buildings, The Beautiful Scene Of The
Tyrolese Valley With Its Beautiful Flowers And Bells Are Painted On Walls. But
These Things Have No Meaning For The Slum Children.
A Big Open Map Of World That Shows All
Those Seas And Lands That World Has. But For These Poor Children, The World
Shown On The Map Is Not Their World. Their World Is Foggy And There Is No Ray Of Hope In It. They Live In Narrow Streets And Their World Is Far Away From Rivers, Capes And
Stars. These Things Are Like Stars In The Sky
Which They Cannot Touch.
Stanza - 3
It Will Be Not Good To Talk Of
Shakespeare To These Poor Children. The Pictures Of Ships And Sun Are A Bad Example For These Children Because They
Tempt Them To Run Away From Their Dark World. Like Rats, They Spend Their Lives Slyly In Their Cramped Holes And For Them, Life Is All Foggy And
An Endless Night. No Vitality Left In Their Bodies. There Body Looks Like Garbage Heaps.
Their Bones
Are Peeping Out Of Their Skins. They Are Wearing Spectacles With A Second Hand Steel Frame And In Which The
Glass Has Been Readjusted. (Cracked And Look Like Broken Pieces Of Bottle) All Their Time Is Spent In These Dirty And Foggy Slums, These Are Living Hells. The Slums Should Be Spotted And Drawn On The Maps So That The Slum Children
Should Feel One With The Others And Realize That Their Slums Can Also Be
Located On The Maps.
Stanza - 4
These Children Will
Continue To Suffer This Hell Unless Government Officials Like Governors,
Inspector, Visitor Visits This Place And Tries To Improve The Conditions Of The
Classroom In A Slum.
He Says That The Maps Of The World Have No Meaning For These Poor Children
Until They Are Taken Out Of Their Slum. A Map Of World Is Useless For Them Until It Becomes
For Them A Real Window Of The World. At Present, Their Windows Are Only The
Classroom Windows From Where They Can See Only A Foggy Street. Their Lives Are Spent In These Foggy Streets
That Are Kind Of Catacombs.
The Poet Calls Upon The Governor, Inspector And The Visitor To Break These Windows And Let These Children Move Out Where They Can See Green Fields And Where They Can Play On The Gold Colored Sand Under The Blue Sky. The Poet Visualizes Freedom For These Children. He Wants A Carefree Life Where They Get Economic And Social Justice, Where They
Have The Right To Be Happy. These Slum Children Should Be Able To Enjoy The Fundamental Right Of
Education Otherwise, Their Lives Will Be Miserable.
The People
Who Strive For Knowledge Are The Ones Who Create History. The Ones Who Are Let Free Are The Ones Who Will Create History. Only Those
People Make History Who Have Warmth And Strength Of The Sun.
Important questions
1. Why Is The Tall Girl's Head
Weighed Down ?
2. How Is The Atmosphere Inside
An Elementary Slum Classroom Different From The One Outside It ?
3. What Does The Poet Want For
The Children Of The Slums? How Can Their Lives Be Made To Change ?
