An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum Summary
In "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum," W.H. Spender describes the dreary conditions of a lower-class schoolroom in England during the early 1900s.
- The classroom is full of "donations" from the upper class, which the children are not able to appreciate because they are so far removed from the world depicted in the items.
- Spender is cynical of the donations, believing that they were given to lure the children into a life of crime.
- In the final stanza, he asks for a change that would break the cycle of poverty and oppression for these children.
Summary
Stanza 1
The initial stanza of "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" vividly portrays the bleak reality faced by the students. The first child is described as a "tall girl with [a] weighed-down head," conveying her physical and emotional fatigue, as if all vitality has been drained from her. Her peers are in similarly dire straits. The "paper- / seeming boy, with rat's eyes" is frail and defenseless, his eyes cautious and fearful, resembling those of a scavenger. His chances of survival, let alone success, are grim. Another child, "the stunted, unlucky heir / Of twisted bones," suffers from a hereditary condition. Spender notes that the boy has inherited his "father's gnarled disease," leaving him disfigured and confined to a body riddled with challenges.
Spender then mentions the boy "at back of the dim class," remarking, "His eyes live in a dream." This student embodies a flicker of cautious hope mixed with a hint of mental entrapment. It is uncertain whether he dreams of a potential future or has succumbed to the "squirrel's game." The ambiguity between these interpretations highlights the students' uncertain futures: they have little chance of success, and their best hope is to maintain their sanity and avoid becoming trapped in a false reality. Yet, beneath it all, the boy's dreaming eyes may hold a genuine aspiration for real success. This last boy, "unnoted, sweet and young," might recognize his societal position and the sorrow of his classmates. With this insight, he could symbolize hope for societal transformation, rather than just being another who has lost touch with reality.
Stanza 2
In the second stanza, Spender describes the classroom environment and its contents. The room is filled with "donations." The children belong to the lowest socioeconomic class, the offspring of working-class families. The classroom's resources are provided through donations from others. Everything the students have comes from their oppressors, the bourgeoisie. The upper class, which keeps these children in their disadvantaged positions, also provides their only means of escape. The maps, books, and "Shakespeare's head" that inspire the students with visions of a world beyond their dreary lives are gifts from the very hands that keep them in their economic and social constraints.
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 offer students a glimpse into a world, but it is not their own. The students do not view their reality as the one illustrated by these classroom "donations." Instead of a "belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley," they see a foggy, "narrow street sealed in with a lead sky." Their future appears grim, uncertain, and dismal. The children in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" are confined by their social and economic status as the offspring of the working class.
Stanza 3
In the third stanza, Spender adopts a cynical tone towards the bleak prospects awaiting the students. He labels Shakespeare as "wicked" and describes the map as a "bad example." He suggests that the tales of "ships and sun and love" in the books are "tempting them [the students] to steal." The bourgeoisie present a world to the students in "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum" that is meant to entice them into a life of crime. Spender's cynicism critiques the upper class and their manipulative efforts to maintain control over the lower class. By showing the students the world's wonders, the bourgeoisie seem to offer hope for...
(This entire section contains 976 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
a better life to the children of the working class. However, Spender perceives these "donations" as something far more sinister. He argues that they are not intended to inspire hope but to drive the students to crime, branding them as thieves. This way, the bourgeoisie can easily oppress the lower class, ensuring their own families, wealth, and futures are protected from the so-called criminal actions of the proletariat.
While Spender expresses cynicism, he remains focused on the true victims of class injustice: the children. In this stanza, he continues to depict the children "on their slag heap." He returns to their frail, undernourished bodies, noting that they "wear skins peeped through by bones." They also wear "spectacles of steel / With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones." Spender delivers a powerful humanist message about the treatment of children in this poem. It seems he is more appalled by society's neglect of the children than by the social and economic system that has condemned them to the slums.
Stanza 4
In the final stanza, Spender completes the circle. He replaces cynicism with hope, calling for a new vision for the children. He urges the "governor, inspector, visitor" to transform the deceptive allure of the bourgeoisie's donations into reality. He pleads for a change that will "break O break open" the "windows / That shut upon their lives like catacombs" and liberate the children from their restricted societal roles. Spender implores that the children be shown—directly, not through "donations"—"green fields" and "gold sands."
Spender expresses a hope that children will be able to "let their tongues / Run naked into books the white and green leaves open." The phrase "white and green leaves" could symbolize money or the donations from the bourgeoisie that provide the books the children use. However, Spender suggests a practical change in how these "donations" are utilized. Under the current system, the bourgeoisie use donations to suppress the proletariat, either trapping students in their social status or luring them into a life of crime through temptation. Spender argues that if students are genuinely given the freedom to explore—like tongues running unrestrained through donated books—their education and "language" can become the "sun" that dissipates the "fog," which has determined their destinies and confined them to "An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum."
