1.Why does Stephen Spender use the images of despair and disease in the first stanza of the poem and with what effect?
Answer:
Spender uses the images of despair and disease to describe the miserable and pathetic lives 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 life makes them sit with their head ‘weighed down’. The stunted growth is depicted by ‘the paper-seeming boy and ‘the stunted unlucky heir of twisted bones’. Their weak bodies recite their fathers’ ‘gnarled disease’.

2.What is the theme of the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’? How as it been presented?
Answer:
In this poem, Stephen Spender deals with e theme of social injustice and class inequalities. : presents the theme by talking of two different d incompatible worlds. The world of the rich d the ‘civilized’ has nothing to do with the rld of narrow lanes and cramped holes. The gap- between these two worlds highlights social disparities and class inequalities.

3.What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ ? What solution does he offer?
Answer:
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.

4.The poet says, ‘Aria 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:
The world of stinking slums is the world that belongs to these poverty-stricken, ill-fed, undernourished 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.

5.Which images of the slums in the third stanza present the picture of social disparity, injustice and class inequalities?
Answer:
The slum dwellers slyly turn in their ‘cramped holes’ from birth to death i.e., ‘from fog to endless night’. 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.”

6.“So blot their maps with slums as big as doom;” says Stephen Spender. What does the poet want to convey?
Answer:
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.

7.Stephen Spender while writing about an elementary classroom in 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 will never be fulfilled. Yet something offers a solution/hope. What is it?
Answer:
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.

8.How can powerful persons viz. governor, inspector, visitor may contribute to improve the lot of slum children?
Answer:
Powerful persons like governors, inspectors and visitors may take an initiative and start bridging 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.

9.How far do you agree with the statement: “History theirs whose language is the sun.”
Answer:
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.