READ THIS
The poet looks at the grim conditions prevailing at a primary school in a British slum. He calls on the
authorities to do something to lift these children from their situation of educational squalor to a world of
real literacy and learning.
ABOUT THE POET
Spender was born in London in 1909. His parents were both literary people, his father being a journalist
while his mother was a painter and a poet.
Theirs was middle class society and, typically for those days, they tended to despise the ways of the
working class. His parents' attitude would naturally influence the poet as a young boy -- hence the theme
of his poem "My parents kept me from children who were rough".
The poet initially attended Oxford University but did not finish his degree. Indeed, he later boasted about
the fact that he had never ever passed an exam in his whole life.
While he was at Oxford, however, he fell under the influence of the poet W.H. Auden with whom he did
some major collaboration. Later he would also pal up with both Louis MacNeice and Cecil Day-Lewis,
as well has many other rising English poets.
Instead of finishing his degree, Spender spent time in Germany where he studied some of the German
poets.
Germany during the 1920s was a hotbed of socialism and Spender became caught up in this political
movement -- becoming for a time an ardent admirer of communism itself.
The world in which he lived, however, quickly came to be dominated by a struggle between fascism and
communism, and Spender became involved in this clash of ideals. Indeed, he even launched himself into
the Spanish Civil War where he sided with the socialist forces opposed the fascist dictator, General
Franco.
Despite his lack of a degree, Spender's proven poetic track record allowed him to teach at various
American universities. In 1965 he was appointed "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry" to the
United States Library of Congress.
He would eventually return to England, however, where he took up a post as Professor of Rhetoric at
Gresham College and, later, Professor of English at the University College in London.
As early as 1962, Spender was awarded a C.B.E. and in 1983 he was honoured with a knighthood for his
poetry. He died in 1995 at the age of 86.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
"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."
- What is a pun? Comment on the pun contained in the words "On sour cream
walls". (4)
[Need help?]
A pun is a play on words, with words twisted away from their original meaning -- often with humourous
effect.
In this case, the classroom has cream-coloured walls, the standard colour of most classrooms. The poet,
however, twists the meaning of "cream" so that it literally refers to the product derived from milk.
The poet then states that it is "sour cream", having an unpalatable taste that people dislike --
although, yes, there are many people today who do like the taste of sour cream.
The poet therefore makes the walls sound ugly and distasteful -- like sour cream. He is also possibly
hinting at the walls being dirty and damaged.
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- Why does the poet refer specifically to the fact that the pictures were donated? (2)
[Need help?]
The school is a very poor one, situated in the slums. It can't even afford to buy its own educational
material but has to rely on donations from people, or cast-offs from other wealthier schools.
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- A poetry anthology states that the "civilized dome" refers to Shakespeare's bald head. Is this
the only meaning? Explain. (4)
[Need help?]
The "civilized dome" probably does refer to Shakespeare's balding head but perhaps the poet is
once again playing with words.
It would appear that the poet is referring to a painting of Shakespeare, not to a bust (head and shoulders
statue). There is more than just Shakespeare's head in the painting. The poet refers to it being
"cloudless at dawn" and the "civilized dome" is "riding all cities".
Is not the poet therefore speaking about something else which appears in the painting behind
Shakespeare's head, such as the dome of a cathedral or church?
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- In what way is the map "open-handed"? (4)
[Need help?]
When a person is said to be "open-handed", it means he or she is generous, gives away money
and things freely.
The map is an atlas of the world but, in showing the children a picture of the world, it also appears to offer
them freely whatever is contained in that world. The map is therefore "open-handed" or generous.
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"And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this world, are world."
- Rewrite this sentence in such a way that the meaning is clear. (4)
[Need help?]
"These classroom windows provide the children's total view of the world, whereas the world offered
by the map is not their world at all."
In other words, the children can never hope to travel and see the world which the map appears to offer
them.
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"Where all their futures painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky,
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words."
- What is the poet predicting about the future for all these children? (4)
[Need help?]
These children are doomed to live always in the slum. The smog of the industrial slum will be with them
always. They can never hope to escape it. Their home will always be near the slag heaps and far from
nature and the sea.
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- Comment on the image in "Where all their futures [will be] painted with a
fog". (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is contrasting the children's future with the painting of the Tyrolese valley. That picture is full of
brightly coloured things, bells which ring and multicoloured flowers in the sunshine.
The painting of the children's future, on the other hand, will always be bleak and grey, with no flowers, no
sunshine -- just a drab and grey slum world.
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"Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words."
- What is meant by CLIMAX in literature? (2)
[Need help?]
CLIMAX is the use of words in ascending order of importance, ending at the most important point:
- "He came, he saw, he conquered."
- "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
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- Is the poet using CLIMAX in the line above? If so, please explain it. (4)
[Need help?]
This is indeed an example of CLIMAX. The words are certainly placed in the ascending order of beauty:
rivers, then capes or peninsulas which jut out into the beautiful sea. The ultimate beauty is the world of
the stars, the world of dreams: "When you wish upon a star . . . "
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- What is the significance of "stars of words"? (4)
[Need help?]
Stars are numerous in the night skies whereas words are numerous on the pages of books. Stars are
what dreams are made of. Stars of words create dreams in children's imaginations.
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