Chapter- 10          An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum


Question: What is the title of the poem?
Answer: The title of the poem is “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum”.

Question: Who is the poet of the poem?
Answer: The poet of the poem is Stephen Spender.

Question: When was Stephen Spender born?
Answer: Stephen Spender was born in 1909.

Question: When did Stephen Spender die?
Answer: Stephen Spender died in 1995.

Question: What was Stephen Spender by profession?
Answer: He was an English poet and essayist.

Question: Which university did Stephen Spender attend?
Answer: He attended University College, Oxford.

Question: Did Stephen Spender complete his degree at Oxford?
Answer: No, he left without taking a degree.

Question: Where did Stephen Spender go in 1930?
Answer: He went to Berlin in 1930.

Question: What political ideas did Stephen Spender believe in?
Answer: He declared himself a socialist and a pacifist.

Question: Name one book written by Stephen Spender.
Answer: One book written by him is Poems of Dedication.

Question: What is the main theme of the poem?
Answer: The main theme is social injustice and class inequality.

Question: Where is the classroom described in the poem located?
Answer: The classroom is located in a slum.

Question: How are the children’s faces described in the poem?
Answer: Their faces are described as pale and lifeless.

Question: What does the phrase “like rootless weeds” suggest?
Answer: It suggests that the children are unwanted and neglected.

Question: Who is the tall girl mentioned in the poem?
Answer: She is a tired, weak girl burdened by poverty.

Question: How is the boy with “rat’s eyes” described?
Answer: He is thin, unhealthy, and deprived.

Question: Who is the “stunted, unlucky heir”?
Answer: He is a child suffering from inherited disease and poverty.

Question: What is the child at the back of the class dreaming about?
Answer: He dreams of squirrels and a world of freedom.

Question: What do the “sour cream walls” represent?
Answer: They represent decay and neglect.

Question: What pictures hang on the classroom walls?
Answer: Pictures of Shakespeare, maps, and beautiful landscapes hang there.

Question: What does Shakespeare’s head symbolise?
Answer: It symbolises knowledge and culture.

Question: Why are the wall pictures meaningless to the children?
Answer: Because their reality is full of suffering and poverty.

Question: What does the map in the classroom represent?
Answer: It represents the wider world full of opportunities.

Question: Why is the map useless for the slum children?
Answer: Because their future is limited and unclear.

Question: What is meant by “their future’s painted with a fog”?
Answer: It means their future is uncertain and hopeless.

Question: What contrast does the poet show in the poem?
Answer: He contrasts the rich world shown on walls with the poor reality of children.

Question: What feeling does the poem create in the reader?
Answer: It creates sympathy and concern for slum children.

Question: What social message does the poet convey?
Answer: He highlights the need for equal education and opportunities.

Question: How does poverty affect the children’s education?
Answer: It limits their growth, health, and dreams.

Question: What does the poem suggest should be done for these children?
Answer: The poem suggests that society should give them freedom and proper education.

Question: Why is the poem still relevant today?
Answer: Because social inequality and poor education still exist.

Answer by Dimpee Bora

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