The poem is composed by Stephen Spender. The poem describes the social inequalities which are prevailing in society. In this poem, poet describes the poor condition of the slum area students of an elementary school which is situated in a slum area. The poet expresses the pitiable condition of the poor children. They are poor and illiterate, so their condition is very miserable. The plot of this poem is very sad. The poet wants to draw the attention of everyone towards these children so that their life can be improved, and they may get trained to become good citizens rather than criminals.

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Central Idea of ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’

This poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” is composed by ‘Stephen Spender. In this poem poet, Stephen Spender has presented a picture of classroom in a slum due to the poverty. The children's conditions are very miserable. Their pale faces express their sadness. The poet also defines the social injustice and class inequalities. The children who present in the classroom were look very weak and lean. Their skins peeped through by bones due to poverty and not to getting proper nourishment. The poet is much worry for these children who live in a slum, but these slum children have no meaning and no purpose for them because they live in extreme poverty. Poet appeal to the governors, inspectors, visitors, education systems to make the life of slum children better through education because -     “Education is the best policy”.                                                                                                                      

 Poem with Explanation   

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,

Hiss 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.

Word meaning gusty =sudden, blast

Weed = wild plants/grass

Pallor = pale skin

Gnarled = knobby

Explanation: the poet describes the children who study in an elementary school which is setup in a slum area. The poet says that the face of the children is dull and without any energy. They are not having any enthusiasm in their life. In this stanza these children are compared with an unwanted weed. Here the writer wants to explain that these children seem to be unwanted like the unwanted weeds which grow on their own in the field. The hair is not neatly done and decoded. The hair is falls on their pale and dull faces. After that, poet explains a tall girl who seems too burdened by poverty. Her head is bent may be because of tiredness or shame. there is another boy who is so weak and thin that he has been compared to a sheet of paper. The boy’s eyes reflect greed, and he wants to achieve everything. Then the poet expresses her emotions to another boy who is physically disabled. The poet says that this boy is very unlucky because he inherited a disease from his father due to which he has a deformed body. Instead of getting any facilities from his father, he has received a disease in heritage. This boy is setting on his bench and is reciting his lesson. At the back of the class, in dim, dark area, was a small boy who was not visible to the poet as he was setting in darkness. The poet could see his eyes which were bright and full of dream. He was not paying attention to the class. It seemed as if he was rather interested in playing with squirrels in the tree house.

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. Not this map, their world,

Where all their future’s plainted with a fog,

A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky.

Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.

Word meaning   sour cream = unpleasant or creamish

Donations = things given or received in charity

Dawn = early morning, sunrise

Explanation: the poet describes the walls of the school. They are cream in colour like the colour of sour cream. This means that the walls are not neat and clean, they have not been painted recently. The walls are covered with different charts and image that must have been donated by different people. There is a picture of Shakespeare on the wall. His head which is bald looks like the rising sun at the horizon. At the time of daybreak, the sun is rising at the horizon and is semi – circular like a dome shape. It seems to be behind all the cities. There is a picture of the famous Tyrolese valley which has beautiful flowers. There is the image of a map which helps all in its own way. But for these children, the map of the world is useless because the slim where they live is different from what they see out of the window of the classroom- the slum. Their future is full of darkness. Their future is compared to a narrow street which means that there is no wide space available for their future growth. These children are far away from the radiant light of knowledge and education.

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,

With ship and sun and love tempting them to steeled

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 are foggy slum.

So, blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Word meaning wicked = uninterested

Tempted = persuade

Slyly = trickily

Cramped = confined

Slag = weak

 Blot = to mark with a spot

 Doom = disaster

Explanation:  the poet further says that these children living in a slum area have faced many hardships that they feel every other person to be their enemy. For them Shakespeare is an evil or uninterested person. They don’t find the map to be a good thing. They are never liked or loved by anyone. So, they hate almost everyone. Their wishes to being loved by others forced them to steal. They live in a small home, and they have to adjusting it. these children have a life of an endless night. This means that their future is full of darkness. Children are so thin and dull that one can easily see their bones through the thin layer of skin. Their skin is like the thin layer of cloth and the bones beneath are visible through the skin. These kids suffer from malnutrition. They wear spectacles which are made of steel. They are dull and very uncomfortable. Even the lenses in the spectacles are repaired. Here the poet tries to explain that slum area children have to face so many hardships in their life.

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 sand and let their tongues.

Run naked into books the white and green leaves open.

History theirs whose language is the sun.

Word meaning    catacombs = tomb, cemetery

Azure = deep blue

Explanation: the poet says that government should take notice of the problems being faced by these slum kids. He urges them to change the life of these children and make the world map a reality for them. He wants the governor and public to help these kids in achieving their dreams. As this will take them away from fog to azure sky, the poet explains that in this way the children can be taken away from the darkness of their present to a bright future. Poet wants to these kids to experience the sand and beauty of nature as this will be led to a desire of gaining knowledge. They will then go through the white and green leaves. Here white leaves depict books and green leaves depict nature. This will then result in their progress, and they will be able to paint a bright future for themselves.

Theme of the poem

Poverty and the contrast between the living conditions of the slum and the hope and opportunity for better education are the main theme of the poem “An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum”. The poem considers how the poverty all around the youngsters limits their potential and how education might help them to overcome it.

Poetic devices in the poem

Simile: it is a literary device used for comparing two unlike things like or as. Example  

Like rootless weed, the hair torn

These children wear skins peeped through by bones.

And spectacles of steel with mended glass like

Bottle bits on stones

Their maps with slums as big as doom shut upon.

Their lives like catacombs.

Metaphor: it is a literary device that is used to make a comparison between two things that are not alike but do have something in common.

Example: gusty waves: the paper- seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.

All their future’s painted with a fog: sealed in with a lead.

Sky from fog to endless night.

Repetition:  it is the repetition of certain words or phrases in the poem for poetic effect.

Example: far far from, break O break

Alliteration: it is the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Example: far far from

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked.

Lives like catacomb.

Personification: it is the attribution of human characteristics to non-living things and animals. Example: civilized dome riding all cities, the word ride is used for humans.

Anaphora: use of repeated words in two consecutive lines. Example: run azure and run naked.

Rhyme scheme: the poem has been written in free verse. It does not have a rhyme scheme.