CBSE Class 12 English An Elementry School Classroom In A Slum Worksheet

Short Answer Type Questions :

Question. What does the poet say about the world of children living in a slum ?
Answer : The poet says that the world of these children is limited to what they can see from the windows of their classroom. It is only a narrow street under a dull sky. It is far from the open world of rivers, capes and golden sands.

Question. How has the life of children living in slums been described ?
Answer : The little homes of these children are no better than cramped holes. They are like catacombs. Here the poor children spend their lives from birth to death. They are so skinny that all their bones can be clearly seen under their skin.

Question. 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 ?
Answer : These children belong to the world of slums. They belong to the world of poverty, hunger and starvation. It is a world from where everything looks foggy. The open joyful world of rivers and capes is inaccessible to them.

Question. How does the poet describe the faces of the children in the classroom ?
Answer : The poet says that the faces of the children don’t show any signs of strength or vitality. They look very pale. Their untidy hair hangs around their pale faces like rootless weeds.

Question. What does the poet wish for the children of the slums ?
Answer : The poet wants the children to be taken out of the slums in which they are living. He wants them to be taken where they can not only study from their books, but also play and run about among the trees.

Question. Why does the poet say : ‘Shakespeare is wicked’ ?
Answer : The poet does not really mean to say that Shakespeare is wicked. He only means to say that a picture of Shakespeare’s head is of no use here in a slum. It can be called wicked in the sense that it will tempt the children to steal it away.

Question. How is ‘Shakespeare wicked’ and ‘the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum ? 
Answer : The slum children have no pictures to hang on the walls of their huts. A picture of Shakespeare’s head hanging in the classroom has been called wicked in the sense that it will tempt the children to steal it away. The map shows all the seas and lands of the world. But the world of poor children is only a narrow street under a dull sky. That is why the poet calls the map a bad example for the children.

Question. What does the poet want the governor, the inspector and the visitor to do ?
Answer : The poet wants these people to take steps by which the poor children can be helped. He wants the children to be taken out of the slums in which they are living. He wants them to be taken where they can not only study from their books, but also play and run about among the trees.

Question. Why has the map been said to be ‘a bad example’ ?
Or
Why does the poet, Stephen Spender, call the map a ‘bad example’ ?
Answer : The map shows all the seas and lands of the world. But the world of poor children living in a slum is very different from this world. It is only a narrow street under a dull sky. That is why the poet calls the map a bad example of a world for the children.

Question. How does the world depicted on the classroom walls differ from the world of the slum children ? 
Answer : On the walls of the classroom, there are the pictures of great writers. There is also a map of the world which shows all the seas and lands of the world. But the world of the slum children is very different from this world. Their world is limited to only what they can see from the windows of their classroom. They can see from there only a narrow street under a dull sky.

Question. What is there on the walls of the classroom ?
Answer : On the walls, there are some donated objects. There is a picture that shows Shakespeare’s head. Then there are pictures of a cloudless dawn, of a cathedral dome and a flowery valley. There is also a map of the world.

Question. What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the slums ? How can their lives change ? 
Answer : Stephen Spender wants that children must be taken out of the slums where they are living. Their living conditions should be improved. Only then can their education be meaningful. Literary education should go side by side with material and physical development.

Question. How does the poet describe the classroom walls ? 
Answer : The poet says that the walls of the classroom smell of sour cream. They bear the names of those who gave donations to build this classroom. They also bear some pictures. A big open map is also hanging on the wall.

Question. What does the poet say about the ‘open-handed map’ ?
Answer : The map has been called ‘open-handed’ because it shows all the seas and lands we have in the world. But he says that for the poor children, this world is not their world. Their world is limited to what they can see from the windows of their classroom.

Question. What message does Stephen Spender want to convey in his poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ ? 
Answer : The poet wants to convey the idea that children must be taken out of the slums where they are living. Their living conditions should be improved. Only then can their education be meaningful. Literary education should go side by side with material and physical development.

Question. How does the poet describe some of the children in the classroom ?
Answer : There is a tall girl. She is sitting with her head weighed down. A boy looks as thin as paper. His eyes look like that of a rat. Another one has twisted bones. At the back of the class, there is a sweet little boy. He has dreamy eyes.

Question. Why does Stephen Spender say that the pictures and the map in the elementary school classroom are meaningless ? 
Answer : The pictures in the classroom show great writers of the world. The map shows all the seas and lands of the world. But the world of poor children living in slums is very different from these rosy pictures and maps. It is only a narrow street under a dull sky. That is why the poet says that the pictures and the map in the elementary school classroom are meaningless.

Extra Questions :

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.

Question. What does the poet mean by ‘gusty waves’ ?
Answer : The ‘gusty waves’ are symbolic of the restless life and activity that are a mark of childhood.

Question. Identify the figure of speech used in the first two lines.
Answer : There is the metaphor of ‘gusty waves’ in the opening line and the simile of ‘rootless weeds’ in the second line of the stanza.

Question. Who are these children ?
Answer : They are the children living in slums.

Question. What does the word ‘pallor’ mean ? ights reserved.
Answer : It means abnormal paleness of the body.

Question. Why is the tall girl’s head weighed down ?
Answer : The misery and listlessness of poverty have weighed down the tall girl’s head.

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.

Question. What is he doing ?
Answer : He is dreaming how squirrels play in their tree room.

Question. Who is the ‘unlucky heir’ and what has he inherited ?
Answer : The stunted boy with twisted bones is the ‘unlucky heir’. He has inherited this disease from his father.

Question. What is a tree room ?
Answer : Tree room means the hole in the trunk of the tree where squirrels live.

Question. What is the stunted boy reciting ?
Answer : The stunted boy is reciting his lesson.

Question. Why is the class dim ?
Answer : The class is dim because there is no arrangement of good lighting.

Question. How is he different from the rest of the class ?
Answer : He has dreamy eyes.

Question. Who is sitting at the back of the dim class ?
Answer : A sweet little boy is sitting at the back of the dim class.

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.

Question. What walls have been referred to in these lines ?
Answer : They are the walls of a classroom in an elementary school in a slum.

Question. Why has the map been said to be ‘open-handed’ ?
Answer : The map has been said to be open-handed because it generously shows all the world to whoever looks at it.

Question. What is meant by ‘sour cream walls’ ?
Answer : The walls are damp and give the smell of sour cream.

Question. What donations are there on the walls ?
Answer : They are pictures donated by different people — a picture of Shakespeare’s bust, another of a cloudless dawn, another of a cathedral dome and still another of a flowery valley.

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.

Question. How is their life different from that of other children ?
Answer : Other children live a happy life. They have bright future. But the life of children living in slum areas is dull and dreary.

Question. Who are the ‘children’ referred to here ?
Answer : The ‘children’ referred to here are the poor children living in a slum area.

Question. Which is their world ?
Answer : Their world is the windows of the classroom from where they can see all their future.

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.

Question. What does the poet say about their lives ?
Answer : The poet says that they spend their lives slyly in their cramped holes and for them, life is all foggy and an endless night.

Question. Why is Shakespeare described as wicked ?
Answer : The poet doesn’t really mean to say that Shakespeare is wicked. He only means to say that a picture of Shakespeare’s head is of no use here in a slum. It can be called wicked in the sense that it will tempt the children to steal it away.

Question. Explain : ‘From fog to endless night.’
Answer : These words signify that there is no cheer in the life of slum children. Life is all foggy for them, with no ray of light anywhere in it. It is like an endless night for them.

Question. Who are ‘them’ referred to in the first line ?
Answer : The word ‘them’ in the first line refers to the children living in a slum.

Question. What tempts them ?
Answer : The love of a big and sunny world tempts them to steal.

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 are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Question. What future awaits these children ?
Answer : A very dark future awaits these children.

Question. Name the figure of speech used in the third line.
Answer : Here the figure of speech used is simile (..... like bottle bits on stones).

Question. Why are their bones peeping through their skins ?
Answer : They have no fat on their body. That is why their bones are peeping through their skins.

Question. Which two images are used to describe these slums ?
Answer : The first image is that of a slag heap and the other is of bottle bits lying on stones.

Question. What does ‘with mended glass’ mean ?
Answer : Here it means a pair of spectacles in which glasses have been readjusted.

Question. Name the poem and the poet.
Answer : The name of the poem is ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ and the poet is Stephen Spender.

Question. What sort of life do these children lead ?
Answer : These children lead a life of poverty and misery. There is nothing to fill their lives with cheer and happiness.

Question. Who are these children ?
Answer : They are the poor children living in a slum area.

Question. Explain : ‘slag heap’.
Answer : In this poem, the sickly lifeless bodies of poor children have been called a slag heap. There is no vitality left in their bodies.

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.

Question. What are ‘these windows’ which the poet talks of ?
Answer : They are the classroom windows from where the children can see only a narrow street and a dull sky.

Question. What has been referred to as ‘catacombs’ ?
Answer : The little narrow homes of the slum children have been referred to as catacombs.

Question. What is meant by ‘this map’ ?
Answer : It is a map of the world that has been hung on a wall in the classroom.

Question. What does the poet want the governor, the inspector and the visitor to do ?
Answer : He wants these people to take steps by which the poor children can be taken out of the slums where they live.

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.

Question. Where does he want them to be taken to ?
Answer : He wants them to be taken to a place where they can play in open fields and on golden sands.

Question. Explain : ‘History theirs whose language is the sun’.
Answer : The poet means to say that only those nations live in history where children can move as freely on the earth as does the sun in the sky.

Question. To whom does ‘they’ refer ?
Answer : The word ‘they’ here refers to the slum children.

Question. What is meant by ‘the white and green leaves’ ?
Answer : The white leaves are the leaves of books and the green leaves are the leaves of trees.

Question. What children is the poet talking of ?
Answer : The poet is talking of children who go to an elementary school in a slum.

Question. What other freedom should they enjoy ?
Answer : They should enjoy the freedom of expression.

Stephen Spender (1909-1995) is an English poet and essayist who took active part in politics. “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” by Stephen Spender pictures a classroom in a slum highlighting subtlety the plight of the children and the themes of social injustice and inequalities. The poet uses vivid images and appropriate expression to reflect the difficulties faced by the underprivileged children that is still prevalent in the world of ours.

SHORT ANSWERS QUESTIONS :

Question. What does the poet wish for the children of the slums?
Answer : The poet wishes that the children of slums would come out of their dull, drab and surrounding. They should share the bright, healthy and spacious surroundings of the rich and the civilized.

Question. What is the message that Stephen Spender wants to give through the poem 'An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Answer : In 'An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum', Stephen Spender deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. There are two different worlds. Art, culture and literature have no relevance to slum children. They live in dark, narrow cramped, holes and lanes. Unless the gap between the two worlds is abridged, there can't be any real progress or development. The children will have to be made mentally and physically free to lead happy lives.

Question. Why does Stephen Spender use the images of despair and disease in the first stanza of the poem, and with what effect?
Answer : Similes and metaphors are used to describe despair and disease in the first stanza. He uses them to describe the miserable and pathetic life of the slums. The slum children have been described as 'the stunted, unlucky heirs of twisted bones'. They are like 'rootless weeds'. Their faces are pale and lifeless. The burden of life makes them sit with their heads 'weighed down'.

Question. This poem was written against the background of the Second World War. But Spender doesn't describe the lives of generals or heroes but of the poor children of slums. Why and how does he do so?
Answer : The poem has been written against the background of the Second World War. Instead of writing about war heroes and generals, Spender highlights the social injustice. He talks of two worlds. Both of them are incompatible. There is the world of the rich. It has nothing to do with the world of narrow lanes and cramped holes. The other is the world of slum children.

Question. Crushed under poverty, disease and miseries do the little school children of slums have any dreams or hopes? What are they?
Answer : The children living in slums have to live in most miserable and sub-human conditions. The burden of poverty and disease crushes their bodies. They still have dreams. Their future is foggy and uncertain. They have kept their hopes alive. They dream of open seas and green fields. They dream of about the games that a squirrel plays on the trees.

Question. The poet says: 'And yet, for these children, these windows, not this world, are ‘world'. What is the real world for them and which is not for them?
Answer : The conquerors and dictators can change the map of the world at will. But their 'map' and world is not the world of slum children. Their world is the world of stinking slums. Narrow lanes and dark cramped holes make their world. Their world is not the world of 'domes', 'bells' and 'flowers'. Their world is the world of poverty and disease.

Question. 'So blot their maps with slums as big as doom'. Why does the poet express such an angry protest?
Answer : The civilized world has drawn its own map. This world has been separated from the world of slums. The dirty slums with their narrow lanes and cramped holes are little hells. The poet protests against social injustice and class inequalities. He wants that the islands of prosperity should be flooded with the stink and dirt of the slums.

Question. What should governors, teachers, inspectors and other important and powerful persons do to improve the lot of children living in slums?
Answer : Two worlds exist. They are quite opposite and incompatible to each other. The gap between them must be abridged. Governors, teachers and powerful persons can play an important role in it. They can help in removing social injustice and class inequalities. They must bring them out of their ugly and dirty surroundings. All good things of life, the sea, the sun and the fields should be within their easy reach.

Question. 'History is theirs whose language is the sun'. Justify the veracity of this statement.
Answer : Stephen Spender concludes the poem with a beautiful metaphor. 'History is theirs whose language is the sun'. This world is not ruled by the dumb and driven people. Only those who speak with confidence, power and authority are heard and obeyed. Their language must have the warmth and power of the sun.

Question. Describe the devices used by Stephen Spender in the poem to create the desired poetic effect.
Answer : In 'An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum' the poet uses modern imagery. He employs similes, metaphors and contrasts as poetic devices to create the desired effect. 'Open-handed map' and 'slag-heap' are modern images. They are conveyed through very effective metaphors. The faces and hair of children in slums are like 'rootless weeds'. Their spectacles are like 'bits (chips) of stones'. The use of similes has been done judiciously.

Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:

1. (a) The tall girl is burdened by the load of poverty and the trials and tribulations of life.
She is so subdued and suppressed that her body and her head have been bowed down with the burden of misfortunes.
(b) The slum children’s unkempt hair looks like the haphazard growth of rootless weeds.
Rootless suggests that these children lack proper nourishment. The literary device is simile.
(c) Rat’s eyes suggest eyes searching for food. The poet compares the boy’s eyes with that of a rat because the undernourished boy is always on the lookout for food and security. The boy is deprived of the basic amenities of life.
(d) The expression signifies that instead of enjoying their childhood in the lap of nature, friskily and freely in the open grounds or beaches, their childhood is confined to the dark and
dingy walls of the slums.

2. (a) The colour of the walls is pale yellow or sour cream. Sour suggest dull, decay and decadence.
(b) The poet hints at two worlds. The world of poverty and disease contrasted with the progressive world represented in the pictures on the walls.
(c) The pictures are all donations which represent a world that is deprived to the slum children. Shakespeare’s head or good literature may raise desire which can never be fulfilled.
Tyrolese Valley suggests natural beauty which is deprived to these children.
(d) These images highlight the monotonous and dull life in an urban slum. The elementary school in a slum is so squeezed and suppressed under the so called civilized high domes that
the children are unaware of the beauty of the sky at dawn. They are over ridden by the concrete structures of the cities.

3. (a) Their world is the slums which are characterized by poverty and disease.
(b) The future for these children is bleak and foggy.
(c) Lead sky is black or dull grey sky symbolic of hopelessness and despair. It represents a grey and dull existence which comprises their life.

4. (a) Shakespeare is an epitome of high literary excellence but in the schools of slums where hardly any learning takes place and where children are troubled by disease and despair, literary excellence is beyond their reach.
(b)The beautiful world of ships, the sun and love tempts these children as they are deprived of these things.
(c)The expression describes the miserable and pathetic lives of the slum children. The children in the slums struggle from foggy mornings till late nights merely to exist.

Answer the following in about 30-40 words.

1. The children inherit their parents’ poverty and disease. A boy has twisted bones like his father. The slum children inherit the diseases as they are subjected to inhuman dirty cramped conditions.

2. This is suggestive of the world of dreams, the sweet and young boy lives in. Just as a squirrel frisks and frolics around in its tree house, likewise the eyes of the dreamer frisk and frolic with hopes for the future.

3. This simile describes the shattered glasses of the spectacles some slum children have to wear. It looks like the bits of glass shattered on stone. It highlights the poverty and hardships of people in slums which is irreparable.

4. Even though the world of the slum children is dark and their future bleak, their eyes dream of a better future which is distant and beyond their reach. They dream of open seas, green fields and squirrel’s game.

5. The future of slum children is uncertain and bleak. Just as fog blurs one’s view in winter, poverty and apathy of the officials have dimmed the future of the slum children.

6. Those people create history that outshines others. Through this metaphor, Spender feels that only those people who have courage can leave their mark. To create history, their language must have the power, brightness and warmth of the sun.

7. The poet has used the image of a ‘wasteland’ to describe the deplorable condition of the slum children. Their lives are barren like the wasteland, cramped and crushed under a leaden sky. Deprived of the lush green beauty of nature, they spend their life in slums surrounded by the so called civilized ‘world’. The images and symbols of a ‘cloudless dawn’ and ‘belled,
flowery, Tyrolese valley’ reflect the loneliness and barrenness of this wasteland where there is no hope for the future.