An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Stephen Spender

In "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” Spender questions the value of education imparted to slum children. The government is supposed to provide equal opportunity for education, but the classroom in the slum offers little hope for change or progress for the poor students.  This poem does not explicitly name any country, location, race, or citizenship, it responds to injustice in the global context.

The first stanza contains vivid descriptions of the slum children. They are 'far far' away metaphorically from the mainstream of life, freedom, adventure and a bold future ('gusty waves'). They are like 'rootless weeds' (insecure, unwanted, neglected) caught in the backwaters of life unlike the children from the privileged children who are vibrant and exuberant.

Their emaciated, undernourished bodies are in need of attention. They are pale and have unkempt hair. The tall girl seems hopeless, sick and tired,( weighed down by poverty and hopelessness) the thin, hungry looking boy looks like a rat, the 'stunted, unlucky heir / of twisted bones' has inherited his father's disease ( reciting- repeated generation after generation). A sweet young lad sits in the 'dim class' (- metaphor for their bleak lives) distracted and  dreams of escaping away from depressing environment.

In the second stanza the poet moves to on to describe the classroom. The walls are 'sour cream' in colour - decaying, dull and neglected - a dull, depressing environment, where children feel despondent and their dreams turn sour. The walls are filled with 'donations', which seem to taunt the children because they have no connection with the beautiful, 'cloudless' landscapes, the world of learning and creativity represented by Shakespeare or the civilized domes of cities symbolizing culture and progress, so far removed from the squalor of their fog-covered slums. The Picture showing the natural beauty of Tyrolese valley is unimaginable for children living on slag heaps of industrial slums. The map of the world seems to be generously complimenting the outside world. The children, however, see the world through their windows, their personal experience, - unclear, narrow, heavy and oppressive. This is ironical. The repetition of the phrase 'far far'  highlights that there is a wide gulf between the lives of slum children who are confined to fog-covered lanes sealed in with a lead sky (literal-a polluted, smog covered sky; metaphoric- which does not open up opportunities, instead weighs down blocking escape from the slum), with no opportunity to escape and the rosy pictures on the wall showing a world of rivers, cloudless sky, ships, sun- filled lands and love.

In the third stanza the poet questions the value of the donated pictures on the walls which raise aspirations and hopes and ironically have a negative impact on the children. The children are now compared to rodents that live in a 'cramped hole'. In desperation they are lured into crime to reach a world far removed from their own lives. Thus, they move from 'fog to endless night' - a metaphor for their dismal prospects. Their immediate environment is now a slag heap in industrial cities and 'foggy slum'. They are frail and delicate, wear skins through which the bones jut out. Their spectacles with mended glass distort their view of the world. Their life is as cheap and shattered like broken pieces of cheap glass. There is no gentleness or softness in their young lives. The poet deliberately evokes hard, sharp images- bones, steel, glass, bottle bits and stones to conjure picture of hardships in their lives. The poet is angered by the situation and calls for a more truthful and realistic picture of the world for the children or else he states, the slum children are doomed.

The final stanza brings in hope. It is an appeal to the government and concerned authorities 'governor, inspector, visitor’ to change the lives of the children by becoming their 'map' or their guide and to make education meaningful and relevant to the slum children. They should help these children break out of the catacombs (burial chambers)of industrial towns that have crippled their minds, bodies and spirit. It is only then that the windows through which the slum children observe the world will open out to reveal the outside world in all its wondrous beauty. Their tongues will metaphorically 'run naked' into their books as they explore knowledge first hand. They will enjoy full freedom and a golden future- run freely amidst nature (green fields and run azure on golden sands), taste, explore and experience  knowledge from books and nature and be creators of history and not merely its victims.(The poem ends with a burst of colour and light - a sharp contrast to the bleak and dim atmosphere of the classroom. ) The poet says that such education will empower them; they too would have equal opportunity, be enlightened, speak the language of the sun and be writers of their own history..

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum (poetic devices/figures of speech)

Metaphors

a)            Gusty waves - the privileged children are compared to gusty waves-energetic, exuberant and forward moving

b)            Future’s  painted with a fog

c)            Sealed in with a lead sky

d)            stars of words

e)            from fog to endless night

f)             wear skins peeped through by bones

g)            let their tongues /Run naked into books…

h)            whose language is the sun

Simile –

•             Like rootless weeds;

•             Like bottle bits on stones – (their lives are as shattered as broken bits of scattered glass smashed on stones;)

•             these Windows that shut upon their lives like catacombs;

Imagery – weighed down: burdened with the weight of poverty and hopelessness

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 turn sour

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.

Symbol-

a) Squirrel’s game - fun outdoors to escape the dull classroom

b) civilized dome riding all cities- cities that show civilizational progress  and marvelous architecture

(ALSO PERSONIFICATION – riding all cities)

c) Open-handed map- (a map drawn arbitrarily by the people in power and the privileged)

c.1) map with slums as big as doom- the grim reality of the lives of slum children

d) fog- bleak and unclear

e) ships and sun- adventure and  beautiful lands offering opportunity

f) slag heaps- industrial waste, toxic filth and squalor

g) windows –windows of the slum classroom do not open out to opportunities and the wide world. They show only fog covered slums where they are confined.

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 a death-like existence.

h) 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

i) sun – symbol of enlightenment ; of equal blessing/ equality

Repetition-

 Break O break open till they break the town

Far, far