4 Marks Questions
Question 1 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and
spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on
stones.
a) Who are these children?
Answer : These children are poor children who live in the slum.
b) What is their slag heap?
Answer : Their slag heap refers to the hunger stricken, thin bodies of the children, which look like heaps of garbage.
c) Why are their bones peeing through their skins?
Answer : Their bones are peeping thorough their skins as they are malnourished and hence very skinny.
d) What does ‘with mended glass’ mean?
Answer : ‘With mended glass’ means that the glass of the spectacles is cracked and pieces of it have been stuck together.
Question 2 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
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.
a) Who are these children?
Answer : These children are poor children who live in the slum.
b) What does the poet mean by ‘gusty waves’?
Answer : By ‘gusty waves’ the poet means the beautiful sights of nature which are not visible in the slum.
c) What has possibly weighed-down the tall girl’s head?
Answer : The tall girl’s head has possibly been weighed down by sad thoughts about her misfortune.
d) Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
Answer : Simile is the figure of speech used in these lines.
Question 3 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
On sour cream walls, donations,
Shakespeare’ head, Cloudless at dawn,
civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese vally.
Open-handed map, Awarding the world its
world.
a) Name the poem
Answer : The poem is ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’.
b) What are the donations on the wall?
Answer : The donations on the wall are the items that have been gifted to the school and have been put up on the wall.
c) What does the map award the world?
Answer : The map awards the world with the beautiful bounties created by God.
d) Why does the poet mention “Tyrolese valley”?
Answer : The poet mentions ‘Tyrolese valley’ because of its natural beauty, which the slum children are deprived of.
Question 4 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes
live in a dream, Of squirrel’s game, in tree
room, other than this.
a) Why was the class dim?
Answer : The class was dim because it was neither well-lit nor ventilated.
b) Who was sitting at the back of the dim class?
Answer : A young, sweet boy unnoticed by others was sitting at the back of the dim class.
c) What was he dreaming about?
Answer : He was dreaming about squirrels playing on a tree.
d) Name the poem.
Answer : The name of the poem is ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’.
Question 5 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map,
their world, Where all their future’s pointed with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.”
a) Who are the ‘children’ referred to here?
Answer : The ‘children’ referred to here are the poor children living in the slum.
b) Which is their world?
Answer : Their world comprises of the dull and unpleasant classroom and its windows, amongst the dirty surroundings of the slum.
c) How is their life different from that of other children?
Answer : The children of the slum are malnourished and poverty-stricken, as against the other children who are healthy and have all the comforts and luxuries of life. Their life is filled with darkness and hopelessness.
d) Why is the future of these children “painted with a fog”?
Answer : The future of these children is dark and uncertain. So, the speaker says that its is painted with a fog.
Question 6 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“….And, yet for these
children, these windows , not this map,
their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a
fog.”
a) Which map is the poet talking about in the above lines?
Answer : The poet is talking about the map which depicts only the world of the rich and the important, the world that comprises civilised domes, bells, flowers and the scenic beauty of nature.
b) To what do the words, “these windows, their world”, refer?
Answer : “These windows” refers to the windows of the school classroom where the slum children are sitting.
“Their world” refers to the world of the poverty-stricken slum dwellers. It has narrow lanes, small congested houses and dim classrooms.
c) What sort of future do the slum children have?
Answer : The future of the slum children is dark and uncertain.
d) Why is all their future painted with a fog?
Answer : Their future is painted with a fog as they are poor and not well-educated, and there is no one to guide them.
Question 7 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“With ships and sun and love tempting
them to steal…………
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped
holes
From fog to endless night?”
a) Who are ‘them’ referred to in the first line?
Answer : ‘Them’ here refers to the poor, malnourished children of the slum.
b) What tempts them?
Answer : They are tempted by all the beautiful things of the world, the luxuries and the lifestyle that the rich enjoy.
c) What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives?
Answer : The children of the slum live amidst dirty surroundings in cramped houses which are dark and unpleasant.
d) What do you understand by “from fog to endless night”?
Answer : “From fog to endless night” means that from morning till night the poor children of the slum lead a life of suffering.
Question 8 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
………………The stunted, unlucky heir
of twisted bones, reciting a father’s
gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At the back of
the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young.
a) Who is the unlucky heir?
Answer : The boy with stunted growth and twisted bones is the ‘unlucky heir’.
b) What has he inherited?
Answer : He has inherited the gnarled disease of his father, and as a result, his growth is stunted.
c) Who is sitting at the back of the dim class?
Answer : An unnoted, sweet young boy is sitting at the back of the dim class.
d) Explain , “reciting a father’s gnarled disease.”
Answer : ‘Reciting a father’s gnarled disease’ means that the boy has inherited his father’s disease. Due to this he has twisted and has stunted growth.
Question 9 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad
example,
With ships and sun and love tempting
them to steal-For lives that slyly turn in
their cramped holes From fog to endless
night?
a) Why is the map called a bad example?
Answer : The map is called a bad example for the children because it does not include their world of narrow and dirty lanes of the slum.
b) Where do the children spend their lives?
Answer : The children spend their lives living like rats in their cramped holes in the slum. They live in the most dirty and unhygienic conditions.
c) What do ‘fog’ and ‘endless night’ stand for?
Answer : ‘Fog’ and ‘endless night’ describe the miserable and pathetic life of the slum children. ‘Fog’ means that the future of the children is clouded and gloomy.
‘Endless night’ means that their misery is unending.
d) Who are ‘them’ referred to in the second line?
Answer : ‘Them’ here refers to the poor, malnourished children of the slum.
Question 10 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, their hair torn
around their pallor The tall girl with
her weighed-down head. the
paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes.
a) What are the children compared to?
Answer : The children are compared to rootless weeds.
b) Why do you think the tall girl is sitting with a weighed-down head?
Answer : The tall girl is sitting with a weighed-down head probably because she is depressed due to extreme poverty or family tussles.
c) Give two phrases which tell us that the children are under-nourished.
Answer : The phrases are ‘like rootless weeds’ and ‘the paper-seeming boy with rat’s eyes’.
d) What is the condition of the boy?
Answer : The boy sitting in the classroom is as thin as paper, due to malnutrition. He has bulging eyes like that of a rat.
Question 11 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
……………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.
a) Where is the map?
Answer : The map hangs on the sour cream wall of the classroom.
b) Who does the word, ‘their’ refer to?
Answer : The word ‘their’ refers to the slum children.
c) What does the poet thing of their future?
Answer : The poet thinks that the future of these children is rather bleak and foggy. Their hopes and aspirations of a better future will always remain an unfulfilled dream for them and they will live a life of misery and despair.
d) Why is the future of these children ‘painted with a fog’?
Answer : The future of these children is dark and uncertain. So, the speaker says that it is painted with a fog.
Question 12 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
a) To whom does ‘they’ refer?
Answer : The word ‘they’ refers to inspectors, visitors, governors and those who are in authority.
b) What would they break?
Answer : They would break the grim walls of the slum children’s world which have shut the children off from the world.
c) What does the poet want for them?
Answer : The poet wants that these children should be properly educated, so that they get the energy and warmth of the sun which is symbolic of light and knowledge.
d) What other freedom should they enjoy?
Answer : The slum children should enjoy the freedom of acquiring knowledge as well as freedom of expression.
Question 13 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Unless, governors, 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
And show the children to green fields, and
make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their
tongues
Run naked into books the white and green
leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.
a) Who does the poet appeal to?
Answer : The poet appeals to the governors, inspectors and visitors, the people in authority from all walks of life.
b) What is the appeal made by the poet?
Answer : The poet’s appeal is to ensure that the world of the map becomes an opening for these slum children and opens the avenues of new opportunities, progress and a better life for them to ensure that they are saved from their miserable condition.
c) What does the expression, ‘their tongues run naked into books’ mean?
Answer : This expression means to enable them to read and understand books and independently by providing them liberal education.
d) Explain ’till they break their town’.
Answer : The poet wishes the children to break the shackles of the slum so that they can come out of their dirty surroundings into an open area of freedom.
Question 14 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
………..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.
a) Which two images are used to describe these slums?
Answer : The images used to describe the slums are ‘foggy slum’ and ‘slums as big as doom’.
b) What sort of life do these children lead?
Answer : The homes of these children are very cramped and dingy. They are almost like holes and these children live in them like rats. They are deprived of the picturesque beauty and gift of nature.
c) Which figure of speech is used in the last line?
Answer : The figure of speech used in the last line is a simile.
d) What does ‘slag heap’ refer to?
Answer : ‘Slag heap’ refers to the hunger-stricken bodies of the slum children, which seem to be like garbage heaps.
Question 15 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a
bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them
to steal
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped
holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag
heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and
spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones
a) Why is Shakespeare described as wicked?
Answer : Shakespeare has been described as ‘wicked’ because the children are not aware of his literary genius. In their school, hardly any learning takes place, as they are troubled by hunger, despair and failed aspirations.
b) Explain, “from fog to endless night.”
Answer : With reference to the passage, ‘from fog to endless night’ refers to early morning to late night. It means that every day is the same for the slum children.
c) What does the reference to ‘slag heap’ mean?
Answer : The thin and hunger-stricken bodies of the poor children are referred to as ‘slag heap’. ‘Slag heap’ means garbage heaps and the bodies of children are compared to garbage heaps.
d) How do they live in their holes?
Answer : They live like rats in their cramped little holes as their houses are small, dirty and congested.
3 Marks Questions (30 – 40 Words)
Question 1 : How is ‘Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example’ for the children of the school in the slum?
Answer : Shakespeare is wicked because its portrait in the classroom does not have any meaning for the slum children. Similarly, the map is a bad example as the world depicted in it is out of reach for the slum children.
Question 2 : What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum?
Answer : The poet, Stephen Spender, wants that the children of the slums should break free from the rut of their dirty existence and experience nature at its best. They should be educated and be able to transform themselves.
Question 3 : How does the map of the wall tempt the slum children?
Answer : The map of the wall shows beautiful rivers, mountains and valleys. As the slum children have not seen any of the things shown in the map, they are tempted to see these things in reality.
Question 4 : What change does the poet hope for in the lives of the slum children?
Answer : The poet wishes for a better life for the children of the slums. He wants them to have access to education because education is the key to prosperity. They should be given countless opportunities to explore the world.
Question 5 : To whom the poet in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ make an appeal? What is the appeal?
Answer : The poet makes an appeal to his readers, especially the educated and the well-off-people, to help the poor children of the slum come out and get free from their miserable surroundings. His appeal is that these children should be given quality education, because education holds the key to their emancipation.
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 : The words/phrases in the poem which shows that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition are ‘rootless weeds’, ‘paper seeming boy’, ‘stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones’ and ‘wear skins peeped through by bones.’
Question 7 : Inspite of despair and disease pervading the lives of slum children, they are not devoid of hope. How far do you agree?
Answer : I agree that the children living in the slum are not devoid of hope. Their eyes dream of a better future which is distant and beyond their reach. They dream of open seas, green fields and watching the squirrel’s game.
Question 8 : How is the atmosphere inside an elementary school classroom in a slum different from the one outside it?
Answer : The atmosphere inside the classroom is gloomy and dull. The classroom is pale, poorly lit and not well-ventilated. However, the atmosphere outside the class is colourful and lively with the bounties of nature.
Question 9 : 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 : These children belong to a world which is confined within the walls of their slum. They belong to a world of poverty, misery and deprivation. The world represented on the map is inaccessible to them.
Question 10 : What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’?
Answer : The poet wants that the children of the slums should get rid of their dismal lives. They should be educated and brought out from their ugly surroundings.
Question 11 : Why does Stephen Spender feel the maps in the elementary school classroom are meaningless?
Answer : The pictures and maps in the school are meaningless for the slum children because they stand in sharp contrast to the dingy, dismal and gloomy atmosphere in which these slum children live.
Question 12 : “So blot their maps with slums as big as doom”, says Stephen Spender. What does the poet want to convey?
Answer : The poet wants to convey that the slums are blots on the map of the civilised and the rich world. Moreover, the slums are not shown on the maps so the maps are useless for the slum children.
Question 13 : How does the poet describe the classroom walls?
Answer : The walls of the classroom are pale and dirty. They are decorated with the donated articles and pictures such as that of Shakespeare, a scene depicting buildings with domes, a world map and a picture of beautiful valleys.
Question 14 : Why does the poet Stephen Spender call the map a bad example?
Answer : The map represents the beautiful and wonderful world outside. However, this world is beyond the reach of the slum children. So Stephen Spender calls the map a bad example.