An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum
Question 1.
Tick the item which best answers the following.
(a) The tall girl with her head weighed down means
The girl
(i) is ill and exhausted
(ii) has her head bent with shame
(iii) has untidy hair
(b) The paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes means
The boy is
(i) sly and secretive
(ii) thin, hungry and weak
(iii) unpleasant looking
(c) The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means
The boy
(i) has an inherited disability
(ii) was short and bony
(d) His eyes live in a dream, A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this means
The boy is
(i) full of hope in the future
(ii) mentally ill
(iii) distracted from the lesson
(e) The children’s faces are compared to rootless weeds
This means they
(i) are insecure
(ii) are ill-fed
(iii) are wasters
Answer:
(a) (i) is ill and exhausted
(b) (ii) thin, hungry and weak
(c) (i) has an inherited disability
(d) (iii) distracted from the lesson
(e) (i) are insecure
Question 2.
What do you think is the colour of ‘sour cream’? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The classroom walls are painted in a dull creamy colour which symbolizes the bleak future of the slum children who study there. They are deprived of quality education.
Question 3.
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘World maps’ and beautiful valleys. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Answer:
The walls of the classroom depict pictures of Shakespeare, sky-high buildings, maps and valleys of flowers. The world of slum children is a real contrast to this. These children live in an environment of poverty, hunger, scarcity, and disease in a pathetic condition in contrast to the prosperous and developing world as depicted on the classroom walls.
Question 4.
What does the poet want for children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants a quality life with equal opportunities for the slum children to learn and earn. Their lives can be changed when they are given equal opportunities, good education, and a respectable life.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Solved Question Bank
Reference-to-context Exercises
Read the extracts given below.
Question 1.
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.
Answer the following.
(a) The pale faces of the children are in contrast to the gusty waves. (True/False)
(b) The children looked like rooted weeds. (True/False)
(c) A tall ___________ has a weighed-down head?
(d) What was the condition of the children’s hair?
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) girl
(d) torn
Question 2.
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 eyes.
Answer the following.
(a) The children’s faces wore signs of their rootless condition. (True/False)
(b) The tall girl bows her head with the burden of studies. (True/False)
(c) From which type of landscape is the location described in these lines, far from?
(d) ___________ in the boy’s face have been compared to a rat.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) Gusty waves
(d) eyes
Question 3.
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.
Answer the following.
(a) The boy was an unlucky heir to the throne of his father. (True/False)
(b) The boy had inherited twisted bones from his father. (True/False)
(c) A sweet and young child sat ___________ at the back.
(d) The child was dreaming of a ___________ game.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) True
(c) unnoticed
(d) squirrel’s
Question 4.
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.
Answer the following.
(a) The class is enjoying a squirrel’s game.
(b) The classroom not being well lit is ___________ .
(c) The boy was sitting at the back of the class ___________ .
(d) The hole where the squirrel was spotted is called a tree ___________ by the poet.
Answer:
(a) False
(b) dim
(c) unnoticed
(d) room
Question 5.
On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley.
Answer the following.
(a) The walls of the classroom were made of sour cream. (True/False)
(b) On the classroom wall there is a head of ___________ .
(c) There are also pictures of the ___________ valley.
(d) At what time of the day is the shot of the Tyrolese Valley taken?
Answer:
(a) False
(b) Shakespeare
(c) Tyrolese
(d) cloudless dawn
Question 6.
…Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. 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.
Answer the following.
(a) For the children in the classroom, the only world that they know of is outside their classroom windows. (True/False)
(b) The map in the classroom is pinned to the window of the classroom. (True/False)
(c) The school is located in a ___________ street.
(d) The future of the children is dull and has been compared to a ___________ .
Answer:
(a) True
(b) False
(c) narrow
(d) fog
Question 7.
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? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
Answer the following.
(a) The map is a bad example for the children as it tempts hopes in the children. (True/False)
(b) After seeing ships and sunshine, the children’s minds are slyly turning in their cramped ___________ .
(c) The children’s living quarters are described as ___________ heaps.
(d) What metal is used to make the children’s spectacle frames?
Answer:
(a) True
(b) holes
(c) slag
(d) steel
Question 8.
…On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
Answer the following.
(a) The children’s physique is such that their skins seem to be peeping through their bones. (True/False)
(b) The children’s spectacle glasses are ___________ .
(c) The children wear ___________ of steel.
(d) The cracked surfaces of their mended glasses looks like bottle ___________ lying on stone.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) broken
(c) spectacles
(d) bits
Question 9.
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.
Answer the following.
(a) On their slag heaps are bones and broken spectacles. (True/False)
(b) ___________ peep through the loose skins of the children’s bodies.
(c) In the children’s spectacles what is broken: steel or glass?
(d) Their slum-dwelling has been compared to ___________ .
Answer:
(a) False
(b) bones
(c) glass
(d) doom
Question 10.
Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs.
Answer the following.
(a) The authorities associated with the school are the governor, the inspector, and visitors. (True/False)
(b) The poet urges the authorities to make the classroom map the children’s ___________ to the outer world.
(c) The windows of the classroom have been compared to ___________ .
(d) ___________ in the classroom is an outlet to the world beyond.
Answer:
(a) True
(b) window
(c) catacombs
(d) map
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Short Questions and Answers
Question 1.
How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum?
Answer:
The lives of slum children are far removed from what is displayed on the walls. Shakespeare represents literature and the map shows the foreign land with beautiful landscapes. This civilized world is meaningless for them and will tempt them to take a wrong path.
Question 2.
What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants their lot to improve. He wants education for the slum children which will broaden their horizons, liberate them truly and empower them to create their own history. He wants them to get rid of their dismal lives.
Question 3.
To whom does the poet in the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum” make an appeal? What is his appeal?
Answer:
The poet appeals to the inspectors, visitors, and governors to improve the lot of the slum children by providing them with quality life and quality education.
Question 4.
Which words/phrases in the poem show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition?
Answer:
‘Stunted’, ‘twisted bones’ ‘paper-seeming boy’, ‘skin peeped through by bones’, etc. are some of the words/phrases that show the conditions of acute malnutrition of the slum children.
Question 5.
What changes does the poet hope for in the lives of slum children?
Answer:
The poet hopes that these children will get rid of their poverty and nourished properly. The doors of the world will be thrown open to them. They will get quality education and quality life.
Question 6.
What message does Stephen Spender convey through his poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Answer:
Through this poem, Stephen Spender wants to convey the idea of social injustice and class inequality. Expressing his concern at the plight of the slum children, he appeals to the governors, visitors, and inspectors to provide equal opportunities for education to these children.
Question 7.
What is the theme of the poem?
Answer:
The poem deals with social injustice and class inequality. The poet highlights the lack of political will on the part of the authorities and indifference on the part of society that compels these children to live a life of poverty and hunger. They are deprived of their basic rights.
Question 8.
What does the world of the slum children consist of?
Answer:
The world of the slum children consists of dark classrooms and narrow lanes. Their world is full of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and disease. It is confined to grey and black colours.
Question 9.
What is the only hope for the slum children?
Answer:
The only hope for these children lies in the hands of inspectors, visitors, and governors. They should take immediate action to provide them with equal opportunities for education so that they can move out of their slums and be part of the real world.
