Stephen SpenderStephen SpenderFebruary 28, 1909–July 16, 1995

Stephen Spender Stephen Spender (1909-1995)

• English poet, essayist and writer• Briefly taught in a school in Devon• Professor at University College, London• Professor Emeritus • Focus on social injustice and class struggle in work• Tension between poetic lyricism, romantic idealism and

a strong political consciousness

An Elementary School An Elementary School Classroom in a SlumClassroom in a Slum

Published in Selected Poems (1964)

Background of the poem• Published in 1964- outstanding example of political voice• Expresses his ideology on government , economics and

education• Written during the Civil Rights Movement in the US• Commentary on racist issues• Socialist Proclamation against Capitalism and Social

injustice• Though British, his extreme left- leaning political

ideologies were in response to the global question concerning social injustice

• Hence, the poem has a universal significance

Theme The opening stanza

provides a clear, but dreary depiction of the students in the classroom. The first child is a "tall girl with [a] weighed-down head.“

is physically and emotionally exhausted, life seems to have dredged from her body and sapped from her mind.

Her classmates are in no better condition. "The paper- / seeming boy, with rat's eyes" is paper-thin and weak.

eyes are defensive and scared, like a scavenger, a rat. prospect for survival, let alone success, is bleak.

Another student, "the stunted, unlucky heir / Of twisted bones," is the victim of a genetic disorder.-"father's gnarled disease";

left disfigured, trapped in a physically challenged body.  

The opening stanza (cont’d)Spender then describes the boy "at back of the dim class," stating, "His eyes live in a dream."

a glimmer of wary hope , a shiver of mental damnation he is dreaming of a life he may achieve or has lost his mind to the "squirrel's game."

This vague distinction between these two conflicting interpretations exposes all the students' futures - there is little or no expectation that they will succeed, and the best they can hope for is to keep their sanity and not fall victim to a the reality. Alternately, the boy's dreaming eyes may harbor an honest desire for true success. This last boy, "unnoted, sweet and young," may understand his position in society and see the sadness of his fellow students. With this understanding, he may represent hope for social change, instead of merely being an individual who has lost his mind.  

The second stanza

The children are from the lowest class; they are the children of the poor.Spender describes the classroom and its contents.- It is full of "donations “ - of others' capital The maps, books, and "Shakespeare's head"   They are tools to hold them in place , hope for a better existence and also help them escape Spender writes,  

... 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.

The "donations" may give a glimpse of some world to the students, but not of their world. Their world is not pleasant – it is unpleasant. Their future is bleak, unknown, and dreary. The children in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" are trapped by their social and economic status as children of the have-nots.  

The third stanza Spender's cynicism is a commentary on the upper class and their circumventing tactics in the effort to hold a firm grip on lower-class citizens :

hope for a better future initiation into a world of crime

The true victims of the injustice of the class struggle: the children.

Spender is making a resounding humanist statement about the treatment of children in this poem. It appears that he is more sickened by humanity's disregard for the children than by the social and economic framework that has doomed these children to the slums.  

The fourth stanza

Spender comes full circle.- replaces cynicism with hope, a plea for a new manifesto for the children.

Petitions the powers that beBegs for a changeFree the childrenShow them the world directly

Spender further hopes that the children will be able to "let their tongues / Run naked into books the white and green leaves open.“ Spender claims that if students are truly allowed free exploration--naked tongues running freely through donated books--then their education and their "language" will become the "sun" burning away the "fog" that has sealed their fates and doomed them to "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum."

History theirs whose language is the sunconsidered in the context of all that has gone before:

Spender has been picturing the drab, dull & dreary lives of the children in their classroom - 'where all their future's painted with a fog'.

By way of contrast, there is the 'escape' into imagination, into new 'worlds': the vista of 'rivers' and 'capes' (projecting masses of land) in the poster pictures on the walls. 'Stars of words' conjures up the role of literature as something 'magical' like the stars at night.

These stars are sometimes seen as 'beacons' or 'points of reference' which serve to show us the way, both literally & metaphorically -the 'sprinkling' of words on a page with that of stars in the sky is noteworthy.

Spender ends with a hope for a bright future for these children!

Poetic Technique• Homeric beginning- lofty nature • Natural descriptions- the waves in the picture are fascinating but

also reminiscent of the stirrings of Nationalism in Europe.• Antithetical imagery-contrast between the condition of the children

and the subjects of their learning• Metaphoric merger of the children with the environment in which

they live • Implied questions

– Is Shakespeare wicked as well as liberating?– Are the maps a temptation or hope for a new future?

• Escapism- a sudden desire in the last stanza that these children will be magically released form bondage into freedom

Poetic Technique (cont’d)

Focuses on the rigid class distinctions in civil society Shows the impact of capitalistic domination Hence, their classroom is portrayed metaphorically

“ A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky” Shows the failure of education to improve the lives of the children Highlights the pathos in the poem Ends on a note of prophetic hope

Our assessmentIn this poem, Spender speaks about the poverty and lack of facilities for the poor in a manner so as to awaken the conscience of the Capitalist rulers in his country.

Incidentally, he also reaches out to the millions of other readers in whose countries similar situations exist.

Thank you