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NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Flamingo English An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Important Stanzas For Comprehension
Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
1.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.
Questions
(a)Where, do you think, are these children sitting?
(b)How do the faces and hair of these children look?
(c)Why is the head of the tall girl ‘weighed down’?
(d)What do you understand by ‘The paper-seeming boy, with rat eyes’ ?
Answers:
(a)These children are sitting in the school classroom in a slum which is far far away from the winds or waves blowing strongly.
(b)The faces of these children look pale. Their uncombed and unkempt hair look like rootless wild plants.
(c)The head of the tall girl is ‘weighed down’ by the burdens of the world. She feels depressed, ill and exhausted.
(d)It means that the boy is exceptionally thin, weak and hungry.
2.…………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 the tree room, other than this.
Questions
(a)Who is the ‘unlucky heir’ and what will he inherit ?
(b)What is the stunted boy reciting ?
(c)Who is sitting at the ‘back of the dim class’ ?
(d) ‘His eyes live in a dream’—what dream does he have ?
Answers:
(a)The lean and thin boy having rat’s eyes and a stunted growth is the ‘unlucky heir’. He will inherit twisted bones from his father.
(b)He is reciting a lesson from his desk. He is enumerating systematically how his father developed the knotty disease.
(c)A sweet young boy sits at back of this dim class. He sits there unnoticed.
(d)The boy seems hopeful. He dreams of a better time—outdoor games, of a squirrel’s game, of a room made inside the stem of a tree. He dreams of many things other than this dim and unpleasant classroom has, such as green fields, open seas.
3.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.
Questions
(a) What is the colour of the classroom walls?What does this colour suggest ?
(b) What do these classroom walls have ?
(c) Which two worlds does the poet hint at?How is the contrast between the two worlds presented?
(d) Explain:(i) ‘Open-handed map’
(ii) ‘Awarding the world its world’.
Answers:
(a)The colour of the classroom walls is ‘sour cream’ or off white. This colour suggests the decaying aspect and pathetic condition of the lives of the children in a slum-school.
(b) The walls of the classroom have pictures of Shakespeare, buildings with domes, world maps and beautiful valleys.
(c)The poet hints at two worlds : the world of poverty, misery and malnutrition of the slums where children are underfed, weak and have stunted growth. The other world is of progress and prosperity peopled by the rich and the powerful. The pictures on the wall suggesting happiness, richness, well being and beauty are in stark contrast to the dim and dull slums.
(d) (i) ‘Open handed-map’ suggests the map of the world drawn at will by powerful people/ dictators like Hitler.
(ii) ‘Awarding the world its world’ suggests how the conquerors and dictators award and divide the world according to their whims. This world is the world of the rich and important people.
4.…………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 ip with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Questions [All India 2014]
(a)What are the ‘children’ referred to here?
(b) Which is their world?
(c) How is their life different from that of other children? id) What is the future of these children?
Answers:
(a)Those children are referred to here who study in an elementary school classroom.
(b) Their world is limited to the window of the classroom. They are confined only within the narrow streets of the slum, i.e., far away from the open sky and rivers. Their view is full of despair and despondency. The life of the children seem to be bleak.
(c) “The slum children spend their life only in the narrow streets of the land. They do not get the basic necessities of life. They are deprived of food, clothing and shelter. But the main thing that they differ from other children is freedom. They do not enjoy the freedom of life.
(d) The future of these children is uncertain and bleak.
5. 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?
Questions [Delhi 2014]
(a)Who are ‘them’ referred to in the first line?
(b)What tempts them?
(c)What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives?
(d)Explain: ‘From fog to endless night’.
Answers:
(а)Here ‘them’ refers to the children studying in a slum school.
(b)All beautiful things like ships, sun and love tempt the children of slum school.
(c) The poet says that the children spend their lives confined in their cramped holes like rodents. Their bodies look like skeletons because they are the victims of malnutrition. Their steel-frame spectacles with repaired glasses make them appear like the broken pieces of a bottle scattered on stones. Their future seems to be bleak. id) Their future is foggy or uncertain. The only certainty in their lives is the endless night of their death. In other words, their birth, life and death are all enveloped by darkness.
6.………On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
AII of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Questions
(a)What are the two images used to describe these slums? What do these images convey?
(b)What sort of life do such children lead?
(c)What blot’ their maps? Whose maps?
(d)What does the poet convey through ‘So blot their maps with slums as big as doom’?
Answers:
(а)The images used to describe the slums are:
(i)slag heap
(ii)bottle bits on stones
(iii)foggy slums
(iv)slums as big as doom. (Any two acceptable)
These images convey the misery of the children and the poverty of their dirty and unhygienic surroundings.
(b)In the dirty and unhygienic surroundings the slum children lead very pathetic and miserable lives full of woes, wants, diseases, poverty and uncertainty.
(c) These living hells i.e. these dirty slums blot their maps. These are the maps of the civilized world—the world of the rich and great.
(d) The poet conveys his protest against social injustice and class inequalities. He wants the islands of prosperity to be flooded with the dirt and stink of the slums.
7. Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their Window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs.
Questions
(a)Why does the poet invoke ‘governor’, ‘inspector’, ‘visitor’? What function are they expected to perform?
(b)How can ‘this map’ become ‘their window*?
(c)What have ‘these windows’ done to their lives?
(d)What do you understand by ‘catacombs’?
Answers:
(a)Governor, inspector and visitor are important and powerful persons in the modem times. The poet invokes them to help the miserable slum children. They are expected to perform an important role in removing social injustice and class inequalities. They can abridge the gap between the two worlds—the beautiful world of the great and rich and the ugly world of slums.
(b)Two worlds exist. This map’ refers to the beautiful world of prosperity and well being inhabited by the rich and great and shaped and owned by them. Their windows’ refer to the lairs, holes or hovels of the dirty, stinking slums where the poor and unfortunate children of slums live. The slum children will be able to peep through windows only when the difference between the two worlds is abridged.
(c)These windows’ of dirty surroundings have cramped their lives, stunted their growth and blocked their physical as well as mental development. They have shut them inside their filthy, dull and drab holes like the underground graves.
(d) ‘Catacombs’ means a long underground gallery with excavations in its sides for tombs. The name catacombs, before the seventeenth century was applied to the subterranean cemeteries, near Rome.
8. Break O break open till they break the town
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.
Questions
(a)‘Break O break open’. What should they ‘break*?
(b)Explain: ‘. till they break the town’.
(c)Where will ‘their world’ extend up to then ?
(d)What other freedom should they enjoy?
Answers:
(a)They should break all the barriers and obstacles that bind these children and confine
them to ugly and dirty surroundings.
(b)Till they come out of the dirty surroundings and slums of the town and come out to the green field and breathe in the open air.
(c)Then their world will be extended to the gold sands and azure waves as well as to the green fields.
(d) They should enjoy freedom of acquiring knowledge as well as freedom of expression. Let the pages of wisdom (contained in the books) be open to them and let their tongues run freely without any check or fear.
QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED
Q1. 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 th,e lesson.
(e)The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’
This means they
(i)are insecure
(ii)are ill-fed
(iii)are wasters
Ans: (a)(i) is ill and exhausted
(b)(ii) thin, hungry and weak
(c)(i) has an inherited disability
(d)(i) full of hope in the future
(e)(i) are insecure.
Q2. 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?
Ans: The colour of ‘sour cream’ is off white. The poet has used this expression to suggest the decaying aspect. The deterioration in the colour of the classroom walls symbolises the pathetic condition of the lives of the scholars—the children of this slum school.
Q3. 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?
Ans: The pictures that decorate the walls hold a stark contrast with the world of these underfed, poverty-stricken, slum children living in cramped dark holes. Obstacles hamper their physical and mental growth. The pictures on the wall suggest beauty, well-being, progress and prosperity—a world of sunshine and warmth of love. But the world of the slum children is ugly and lack prosperity.
Q4. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Ans: The poet wants the people in authority to realise their responsibility towards the children of the slums. All sort of social injustice and class inequalities be ended by eliminating the obstacles that confine the slum children to their ugly and filthy surroundings. Let them study and learn to express themselves freely. Then they will share the fruit of progress and prosperity and their fives will change for the better.
MORE QUESTIONS SOLVED
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS (Word Limit: 30-40 words)
Q1. In the opening stanza the imagery is that of despair and disease. Read the poem and underline the words /phrases that bring out these images.
Ans: The following words/phrases bring out these images of despair and disease:
‘Rootless weeds’; ‘the air tom 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’.
‘gnarled disease’.
Q2. Why does Stephen Spender use the images of despair and disease in the first stanza of the poem and with what effect?
Ans: He uses the images of despair and disease to describe the miserable and pathetic fives of the children living in slums. The faces of these children are pale and lifeless. They and their hair are like ‘rootless weeds’. The burden of fife makes them sit with their head ‘weighed down’. The stunted growth is depicted by ‘the paper-seeming bo/ and ‘the stunted unlucky heir of twisted bones’. Their weak bodies recite their fathers’ ‘gnarled disease’.
Q3. In spite of despair and disease pervading the lives of the slum children, they are not devoid of hope. Give an example of their hope or dream.
Ans: The burden of poverty and disease crushes the bodies of these slum children but not their souls. They still have dreams. Even their foggy future has not crashed all their hopes. They dream of open seas, green fields and about the games that a squirrel plays in the tree room.
Q4. How does Stephen Spender picturise the condition of the slum children?
Ans: Stephen Spender uses contrasting images in the poem to picturise the condition of the slum children. For example:
“A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.”
The first line presents the dark, narrow, cramped holes and lanes closed in by the bluish grey sky. The second fine presents a world of beauty, prosperity, progress, well-being and openness.
Q5. What is the theme of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ ? How has it been presented?
Ans: In this poem Stephen Spender deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. He presents the theme by talking of two different and incompatible worlds. The world of the rich and the ‘civilized’ has nothing to do with the world of narrow lanes and cramped holes. The gap between these two worlds highlights social disparities and class inequalities.
Q6. What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem An Elementary School Classroom in a. Slum’ ? What solution does he offer?
Ans: Stephen Spender conveys the message of social justice and class equalities by presenting two contrasting and incompatible worlds. He provides a way out. For achieving any significant progress and development the gap between the two worlds must be abridged. This can be done only by breaking the barriers that bind the slum children in dark, narrow, cramped holes and lanes. Let them be made mentally and physically free to lead happy lives. Only then art, culture and literature will have relevance for them.
Q7. Who Ttrd, the ivor/d its world and ho,What does this world contain,?
Ans: The conquerors and dictators change the map of the world according to their whims and will. They change the boundaries of various nations and shape the ‘map’. Their fair map is of a beautiful world full of domes, bells and flowers, rivers, capes and stars.
Q8. Th e poet says. Aria yet. for these Children, these windows, not this map, their world’. Which world do these children belong to? Which world is irue ecssihlc to them?
Ans: The world of stinking slums is the world that belongs to these poverty-stricken, ill-fed, under-nourished children. The narrow lanes and dark, cramped, holes or hovels make their world. The world of ‘domes’, ‘bells’ and ‘flowers’ meant for the rich is inaccessible to them. They can only dream of rivers, capes and stars.
Q9. Which images of the slums in the third stanza pr sent the picture of social disparity, injustice and class inequalities.
Ans: The slum dwellers slyly turn in their ‘cramped holes’ from birth to death i.e. ‘from fog to endless nights’. Their surroundings are ‘slag heap’. Their children “wear skins peeped through by bones.’ Their spectacles are “like bottle bits on stones.” The image that sums up their harsh existence reads : “All of their time and space are foggy slum.”
Q10. So blot their maps with slums as big as do,in;” says Stephen Sp,.meter. What does the poet want to convex?
Ans: The poet notices the creation of two different worlds—the dirty slums with their narrow lanes and cramped houses which are virtual hells. Then there are islands of prosperity and beauty where the rich and powerful dwell. The poet protests against the disparity between the lives of the people in these two worlds. He wants that the poor should enjoy social equality and justice. The fair ‘map’ of the world should have blots of slums as big as doom. The gap must be reduced between the two worlds.
Q11. Stephen Spender while writing about an elementary classroom hi a slum, questions the value of education in such a milieu, suggesting that maps of the world and good literature may raise hopes and aspirations, which win never be fulfilled. Yet the gown offers a solution/hope. What is it?
Ans: The slum children are being imparted education in a room whose walls are off-white in colour but are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, “world maps’ and ‘beautiful valleys’. The maps of the world and good literature may raise hopes and aspirations. They may try to steal slyly from their milieu but it is quite unlikely that their hopes and aspirations may be fulfilled. The only solution/hope for them is to break the artificial barriers that bind and cramp them. Once free from their milieu, they can enjoy beauty.
Q12. How can powerful persons viz. governor,inspector,visitor may contribute to improve the lot of slum children?
Ans: Powerful persons like governors, inspectors and visitors may take an initiative and start abridging the gap between the worlds of the rich and poor. They can play an important and effective role in removing social injustice and class inequalities. They should break and dismantle all the barriers that bind these children and confine them to the ugly surroundings. They will have their physical and mental development only when they leave the filthy and ugly slums. All good things of life should be within their reach. They must enjoy the freedom of expression.
Q13. How far do you agree with the statement: “History is theirs whose language is the sun.”
Ans: This metaphor contains a vital truth. This world does not listen to the ‘dumb and driven’ people. Only those who speak with confidence, power, authority and vision are heard and obeyed. Those who create history are people whose ideas and language can motivate, move, inspire and influence millions of people. In order to be effective, their language must have the warmth and power of the Sun.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type
Question 1.
How does the poet describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
According to the poet, the walls of the classroom are discoloured and have a faded look which looks like sour cream. The poet compares the faded walls to that of the faces of the children who look pale.
Question 2.
“So blot their maps with slums as big as doom,” says Stephen Spender. What does the poet want to convey?
Answer:
The poet is requesting to provide a clean atmosphere. The world maps create just an illusion. He is telling that the teachers and rulers must take these children out in the open green fields and golden beaches.
Question 3.
What does the poet want for the children of the slums?
OR
What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum?
Answer:
The poet wants the children of the slum to get rid of the dull and morbid state of affairs of the school. They should be provided with basic civic amenities, proper educational infrastructure, and great accessible opportunities to explore the world outside with its gifts and bounties. The poet wishes good education for the children of the slums as he thinks that it is only education that can free these children from the shackles of poverty.
Question 4.
In spite of despair and disease pervading the lives of the slum children, they are not devoid of hope. How far do you agree?
Answer:
The burden of poverty and disease crushes the slum children physically. They are denied basic amenities of food, shelter and education. Despite living in deprivation, these children fight the battle of life courageously. They still dream and hope for a better future.
Question 5.
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:
In these words, the poet wants to convey that the slum children have never gone out of the slum, so the world map was meaningless in the classroom. It was only through the open window of the classroom, that they could see the world outside. So he wants the window to be made bigger and the children should be able to come out and see the outside world for themselves.
Question 6.
What is the theme of the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Answer:
The poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ highlights the theme of social injustice and class inequalities in the society. The meaninglessness of having such schools in the slums is brought out. The poet wants meaningful education for the slum children which will liberate their minds and pave a way for them for a better future.
Question 7.
What is the irony in ‘run azure on gold sands?’
Answer:
Gold sands refer to the sand of deserts while azure is the colour of the nature in spring season. Nothing grows in the desert. The world of the poor children is also like the desert sand. The irony in the expression is the impossibility of spring in the desert land.
Question 8.
Explain; ‘From fog to endless night.’
Answer:
It describes the miserable life of the slum children. From morning till night, these children make desperate attempts to live life despite all odds. Their life is full of misery, hopelessness and suffering.
Question 9.
What is the message that Stephen Spender wants to convey through this poem?
OR
What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Answer:
The need is to free these children, liberate them and bring them into the mainstream by bringing meaningful changes to improve the standard of life and education in the slums. The poet deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. There are two different worlds. Art, culture and literature have no relevance to the 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 10.
How does the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ portray the children?
Answer:
The slum children in an elementary school look pathetic. They are undernourished and diseased. Their unkempt and dull hair has been compared to rootless weeds. One of the girls is apparently burdened with the miseries of poverty. Another boy has inherited his father’s diseases and has stunted growth.
Question 11.
How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum?
Answer:
Both represent a beautiful world and high values which the slum children will have never experienced. Since the slum children cannot relate to these things, there was no point in giving such examples.
Question 12.
What does Stephen Spender want for the children of the slums?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants that slum children should be taken care of by providing them facilities to make their survival fit and to gift them the fruits of literacy. He urges people to help these slum children come out of poverty and oppression of the power.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type
Question 1.
Which words/phrases in the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition?
Answer:
There are many words and phrases in the poem that show the slum children are suffering from malnutrition. These words and phrases are hair torn round their pallor’, ‘tall girl with her weighed-down’ head, ‘the paper seeming boy’ and ‘the stunted heir of twisted bones’.
Question 2.
Write in brief the summary of the poem.
Answer:
The poet describes some children sitting in an elementary school. This school is situated in a slum. The children sitting here present a very miserable view. Their hair are like weeds and scattered on their pale face. Then the poet describes a tall girl. She is sitting with her head bent. There is a small and thin looking boy. His eyes are like that of a rat’s eyes. Then there is an another boy who has disease of swollen and twisted bones and joints. He has got his disease from his father.
The poet notices a young and sweet boy sitting at the back of the class. He is perhaps dreaming about the squirrel’s game. He is perhaps dreaming of having such tree-room for him¬self also. The poet says that the walls of the classroom are cream. They smell like sour cream. There is a bust of Shakespeare in the classroom. There are pictures of big church and the Tyrolese valley having bell-shaped flowers. There is an open-handed map, which shows all the places of the world. But ironically for the children living in the slum their world is not that map but only the scene that can be seen outside the window of their classroom.
The poet says that it will be useless to talk about Shakespeare to the children in the classroom. He even says that Shakespeare is wicked. The big map with all its places, ships and so on tempts the children to steal. These children have to spend their lives in small homes. Their lives are nothing but an endless night. The children have grown so weak that their bones could be seen from their skin. Many of these wear spectacles, and these spectacles have mended glass.
The poet appeals to the governor, inspector and the visitors to do something for the poor children. The poet wants that the children should be shown green fields; they should be allowed to live a free and carefree life. Without any worry they can concentrate well on their studies. The poet says only those people create history who are carefree.
Question 3.
Write the central idea of the poem in detail.
Answer:
This poem is about the children who are living in a slum. They are mostly suffering from malnutrition. In their classroom, there are many beautiful pictures. There is an open handed map and the bust of. Shakespeare. The poet wants that these children should be taken out of their slum and they should be shown green fields and be allowed to run freely. Therefore, he appeals to the officials to do some thing for the children.
The poet says that only those people can create history who can enjoy anything under the sun. Therefore, the poet wants that these children should also be provided proper facilities so that they can grow into useful citizens.
Question 4.
Why does the Stephen Spender say that the pictures and maps in the elementary school classroom are not meaningful ?
Answer:
The poet says that there is a bust of Shakespeare in the classroom. There are pictures of a big church and the Tyrolese valley having bell-shaped flowers. There is an open-handed map, which shows all the places of the world. But ironically for the children living in the slum their world is not that map but only the scene that can be seen outside the window of their classroom. Therefore, the pictures and maps on the wall are meaningless.
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