Introduction to the Poem

And today we are going to share about the second poem of the Femengo book and Elementary School Classroom in Slum by Stephen Spender. Now in this poem, we are talking about poets thinking about the inequalities faced by children in slums. So, let’s start…

Children Far from Energy and Life

far far from gusty waves, these children’s faces like rootless weeds, the hair tone round their paler. That means the word gusty means strong energetic. So, here, how does the poet use it for the children? That is, far far away from being energetic, far far away from being full of life. How are the faces of these children? Like rootless weeds. Now rootless weeds have been used because

weeds are an unwanted plant which everybody uproots and throws away. Similarly, people who live in slums have sex with these poor children. No one wants to accept them. No one wants to live with them.

Shabby Appearance of Children

This shows how shabby they are looking. That means they are not looking properly. Their children’s hair is not done. It is scattered here and there on their faces. And how is their face? Pale, that means a pale appearance which can only come when you

The Tall Girl and Burden of Poverty

That means, in this class, in this classroom, about which the poet is talking, there is a tall girl whose head is down. Now why is it down? Then there are two reasons. The first reason is that she might be feeling sleepy and the second reason is that she is buried under the burden of poverty.

The Thin Boy and Rat-like Movements

And on the other hand, he describes a boy. You must have seen that paper-like paper, the paper is very thin, so that is why paper was used in this show, paper is not very thin

Now the way they have used rat size, rat size means that they keep looking for something or the other in front of the rat, that is, they keep looking for food, similarly because this boy is very thin and is very thin, so he is also looking for something here and there.

Inherited Disease – Twisted Bones

The stunted unlucky hire of Twisted Bone reciting a father’s Nile disease, his lessons from his desk. That is, there is a boy there who recites his father’s Nile disease, meaning he has inherited it from his father. What is inheritance? Twisted Bones means Rickets disease, that is, his father had it and he also has it and he is a student of the class.

The Dreaming Child in the Dim Classroom

At the back of dim class, one unnoted, sweet and young, His eyes live in a dream of squirrel’s grain, In tree room, other than this. Now what are you saying that in this class there is a child who is sitting a little behind, nobody is noticing him, the senior poet finds him very sweet, he is very young, and his brain is not mentally present here, mentally his

The Congested Slum and “Tree Room”

because now this classroom is inside a slum, slum is a very small place where everything is very congested, so naturally this classroom is also very congested, so when they have used the tree room here, it has new opportunities. On the other hand, this classroom which is inside the slum, it is dimly lighted, it is so small, its size is small, and the dreams of children inside it cannot be complete.

Solar-Coloured Walls and Cream Balls

Now the walls of this classroom are of solar colour. Solar cream balls. Why are they called cream balls? If you keep the cream that comes out of the milk for 2-3 days, after some time when it rots, you will see that yellow ball.

The same thing can be seen on the balls. How dampness must have come on these walls. That is why the paint must be peeling off. It must be looking very dirty. So what has been described? But what is on those balls? Now the donations are counted.

Wall Paintings – Civilized Dome and Contrast

Civilized Dome of different colors. Civilized Dome. Now Civilized Dome. See why are these children uncivilized? Because neither they can go to a good place and study nor they get basic facilities, they are very far from civilization, so that is why this is a kind of contrast, all the things are being shown on the wall

Bellez Flowery, Tarolij Valley, now beautiful gardens, all these are on the wall, their portraits are there, their paintings are also there, open hand map awarding world its world, that is, there is a map on this world as well

Slums vs. The World on the Map

Now see what is the world of these children? What is inside this classroom, what is outside these classrooms, what is that? It is a slum, so this is their world, their world is not more than this, but this map is showing all those things to these children, which maybe For these children, the map that is showing them things is no longer their real world. For them, what is outside the window is their world. And for them

Polluted Future – Fog and Lead Sky

their future is painted with fog. Now fog means smoke here. The slums are situated on the side of the industries. So, the amount of smoke that comes out of the industries is because of that

Now what does this mean? What is the world of these children behind? It is in these narrow streets. Inside these narrow streets, there are slum lanes. There are such small and narrow lanes. This is their world. What the map is showing is not their world.

Why is there a lead sky? As I told you the smoke that comes from the industry is very harmful and it is so dark that the sky is blue in colour but because they never see the clear sky, they

Deprived of Beauty and Education

far far from the beautiful rivers, or capes, or the beautiful Tyrolese valley which you have seen far away from all that and far away from the star of words star of words here portrays education

Now the poet says this first of all in the first stanza he described about the children in the glass room in the second stanza he described the glass room which is inside the slums, nao hee sang ki

Harsh Criticism of Unrealistic Ideals

All these things are so wrong that all these bad examples are put on this wall because Shakespeare will look wicked to these children, they come in so much poverty, they come in so much poverty, they have no distance from anything and everything

If he says that the map is a very bad example for these children because it is showing them all the fire The one who is showing the ships, the sun, the one who is tempting them, the meaning of tempting is that it attracts them

Life in Cramped Holes – No Real Daylight

for lives that slyly turn in their cramped hole from fog to endless night. He is tempting them for that life. He is tempting them to tempt them for those things. The life which they cannot have. Because their life is in these cramped holes like houses. Cramped means very small, very uncomfortable. So much fog for them, there is so much fog in their streets that there is no day for them, there is so much pollution, so much smog that there is no sky for them to see, for them it is endless night.

Life on Slag Heaps – Tattered Clothing

Now what the poet wants to say in these lines is that on the slag heap, whatever filth, garbage, waste is left from the industry, you will see that it becomes a mountain, it becomes a mountain of smell. So he is talking about those slag heaps that these children are beside him and what kind of clothes are they wearing? That wear skins peep through by bones means their clothes are torn so their bones are visible, their skin is visible easily

And the spectacles they wear are also such that if someone packs them and breaks them, they pick them up and mend them and the way they mended them is that even after joining them it looks like if you draw a bone on a stone, then it looks like a stone

Appeal to Authorities for Change

So their future this map which is their axial map should be blotted with all these things, this is their life and not all those things which are being shown to them because they cannot get all these things

If the governor, inspector, visitor is here, here they are going and here they are going, when they are going, when they are going, when they are going, when they are going,

The Call to Open the World for These Children

and let their tongues run naked into books, the white and green leaves open, history is there whose language is the sun. Now this last rites is important because what is the point doing here? Urge. He is urging everybody that until all these people, who all, the governor, the inspector and the visitors, that is us, until we go and help these children with all these things

these children will not be able to do anything. Till then their map will remain the same which is outside the window. For them the truth will remain the same.

Final Hope – Freedom, Light and Education

All this life has been closed for them. Like catacombs, underground excavations which have been closed now, similarly the gates of their life will be closed for them in this way if we do not help them. Break or break, open till they break the town, that is they are requesting us, showing an urgency that

and show the children to green fields, that is show these children a good place, show them green fields where they live, why not show them the open sky, show them open fields and make their world run azure on gold sands, that is they should roam freely, they should see the bright blue sky az

And they should be able to receive their education, which is their light, these children live where they might not be able to see the sun because there is always light.

Now when they go out from here, only then they will see the sun, only then new things will come to their mind, they will think about new things, they will do something good, they will receive good basic amenities. We will receive it and only then it will be

Literary Devices Used – Simile and Imagery

Next is we see what literary devices have been used, so simile simile you know when we compare any word by using as or like then we call it simile like what has been used in this like rootless weeds now obviously children cannot be rootless weeds but they have been compared because rootless weeds are an unwanted plant, similarly these children

like when you break a bottle on a stone then its pieces spread out, similarly the glasses of these children were broken in this way, it just seemed that somehow they have joined the children’s