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Online Education for An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Important Questions Class 12 English Flamingo
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Questions And Answers Question 1.
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 poet says that the colour of the walls is of‘sour cream’. The poet wants to convey the idea that the children living in the slum has no happiness in their life. It has become sour and the cream colour represents paleness. The children have no vitality in their lives, thus they have become pale due to malnutrition.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Extra Questions And Answers Question 2.
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 world of the children living in slum is totally different from the pictures of Shakespeare, maps beautiful valleys and big buildings. Their world is confined to the slum in which they are living. The open joyful world is accessible to them.
Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Questions Question 3.
What does the poet want for the children of the slums ? How can their lives be made to change ?
Answer:
The poet wants that the children should be taken out of their slums. Their living conditions should be changed. 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.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Questions And Answers Extra Question 4.
What does Stephen Spender want for the children of the school in a slum ?
Answer:
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.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Short Questions And Answers Question 5.
How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in a slum ?
Answer:
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. The poet means to say that for the children their world is only the slums not the big maps.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Important Questions Question 6.
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’.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Question Answer Question 7.
How does the poet describe the classroom walls ?
Answer:
The poet explains the classroom in detail. He says that the walls of the classroom have cream colour. They smell like sour cream. They are decorated with many pictures, maps of the world and the pictures of Shakespeare.
Extra Questions Of Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Question 8.
Whom does the poet appeal to change the life of the children for better ?
Answer:
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.
Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Extra Questions Question 9.
How does the poet describe the walls of the classroom wall ?
Answer:
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 Tyrolese valley having bell-shaped flowers. There is an open-handed map, which shows all the places of the world.
Extra Questions Of An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Question 10.
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.
An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Extra Questions Question 11.
How does the world depicted on the classroom walls differ from the world of the slum children ?
Answer:
There are many pictures and maps on the walls of the classroom walls. They present a very rosy picture of the world. But ironically the lives of the children living in the slum are very gloomy. They live a very miserable life.
Question Answer Of An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum Question 12.
What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ ?
Answer:
The message conveyed in this poem is that the children living in the slum should be given better facilities. They should be taken out of their slums. Only then they can become useful citizens.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type
Question 1.
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 2.
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.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Stanza For Comprehension
Stanza 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.
Questions
(a) Who are these children ?
(b) Which figure of speech has been used in the first two lines ?
(c) Why is the tall girl’s head weighed-down ?
(d) What does the word ‘pallor’ mean ?
Answers
(a) These children are very poor children who live in a slum and sitting in a school classroom of the slum.
(b) The figure of speech used in the first two lines ‘simile’ A. like rootless weeds.
(c) The tall girl appears to be very sad with the condition of life. She might have many responsibilities. Therefore, her head is weighed-down.
(d) The word ‘pallor’ means the pale faces of the children due to malnutrition.
Stanza 2
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.
Questions
(a) Why is the class dim ?
(b) How is the young child different from others ?
(c) What is he doing ?
(d) What is a tree room ?
Answers
(a) The class is dim because no one takes care of its paint as a result it has become dark and dingy. Possibly, the poet here also wants to indicate the poor class of society and their dark and dim future.
(b) All the other children look gloomy. But the young child is quite different from them. He is full of bright dreams of his future.
(c) He is possibly dreaming about the squirrel’s game in the tree room.
(d) A tree room is a type of hole in the trunk of a tree where the little animals or birds make their homes.
Stanza 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) Name the poem and its poet.
(b) What is meant by ‘sour cream walls’ ?
(c) What donations are displayed on the walls ?
(d) Why does the poet call the map ‘open-handed’ ?
Answers
(a) The name of the poem is ‘An Elementary School Class¬room in a Slum’ and the name of the poet is Stephen Spender.
(b) Sour cream walls mean damp and faded walls of the classroom that give foul smell.
(c) There are many things donated by people are displayed
on the walls. They include pictures, map and Shakespeare’s bust. .
(d) The map has been called ‘open-handed’ because all the places of the world are shown in it and it is big.
Stanza 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 in with a lead sky Far far from rivers,
capes, and stars of words.
Questions
(a) Who are the children referred to here ?
(b) Which is their world ?
(c) How is their life different from that of other children ?
(d) Why is the future of these children ‘painted with a fog ?
Answers
(a) The children referred to here are the children living in the slum.
(b) Their world is confined to the slum in which they are living.
(c) The other children of well-to-do families have all basic facilities of life. They are free to go anywhere. But the children living in the slum are confined to their little dark world.
(d) The future of these children is very dark. Therefore the poet calls it ‘painted with a fog’.
Stanza 5
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
(a) Who are ‘them’ referred to in the first line ?
(b) What tempts them ?
(c) What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives ?
(d) What do you understand ‘from fog to endless night’ ?
Answers
(a) The word ‘them’ in these lines referred to the children living in the slum.
(b) The beautiful places shown in the map tempt them.
(c) The poet says that ‘their’ lives are like a life of a mouse. The children are compelled to live in very small rooms as the mice live in holes.
(d) This phrase means that the children living in the slum have a very miserable existence. They have to suffer a lot from dawn till night and would never overcome.
Stanza 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.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) Which two images are used to describe these slums ?
(c) What sort of life do these children lead ?
(d) Which figure of speech is used in the last line ?
Answers
(a) The name of the poem is ‘An Elementary School Class¬room in a Slum’. The name of the poet is Stephen Spender.
(b) The sickly bodies of the children has been compared to a slag heap. Their mended spectacles have been compared to the bottle bits on stones.
(c) These children live a very poor and miserable life.
(d) The poetic device simile is used in the last line – slums as big as doom.
Stanza 7
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.
Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
Ob) What does the poet want from the governor, inspector and visitors ?
(c) What are ‘these windows’ which the poet talks of ?
(d) ‘That shut upon their lives like catacombs’. Which figure of speech has been used in this line ?
Answers
(a) The name of the poem is ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ and the name of the poet is Stephen Spender.
(b) The poet wants that they should come and do something for the betterment of the children living in a slum.
(c) They are the classroom windows from where the children can see the narrow street of their slum.
(d) The figure of speech used here is simile