In this page you can find An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Class 12 English Flamingo, Extra Questions for Class 12 English will make your practice complete.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Extra Questions and Answers Class 12 English Flamingo
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.