Revision 1.. An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum by Stephen Spender
Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow. (1 x 4 =4)
1.On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
i. What does the expression - sour cream walls – suggest?
a. Display of donated artefacts on the walls.
b. Badly maintained walls.
c. Wall-to-wall furniture.
d. A poor choice of paint for walls.
ii. The map of the world in the classroom symbolizes
a. hopes and aspirations of the children.
b. travel plans of the school authorities.
c. a world that is unconnected to the children.
d. interconnectivity within the world.
iii. The expression, Shakespeare’s head is an example of
a. pun.
b. satire.
c. parody.
d. Irony.
iv. In the extract, ‘future’s painted with a fog’ suggests that the
(a) classroom is as foggy as the paint on the walls.
(b) beautiful valleys are not a part of the children’s future.
(c) life ahead for the slum children is as unclear and hazy as fog.
(d) fog often finds itself in the classrooms through broken windows.
2 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
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.
a) What is the condition of the classroom wall?
b) What aspects show a civilized race?
c) What is the specialty of the Tyrolese valley?
d) Explain: 'Awarding the world its world'.
Value points
a) in a state of neglect/sour cream/poverty-stricken conditions of the room
b) picture of Tyrolese valley/Shakespeare’s bust/ map/dome of an ancient city building
c) full of coloured flowers and resonates with the bells
d) The map and pictures are donations awarded to the slum children and giving them a glimpse of the world of the rich and the elite while the world of the slum children is dark and hopeless.
Answer the following questions
a)What does ‘Awarding the world its world’ mean?
2How does the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’, portray/describe the slum children?
VALUE POINTS
The slum children in an elementary school look pathetic. They are undernourished and diseased. They are used to dark, dirty, narrow cramped areas closed in by a grey sky. They are pale and unhealthy. Their unkempt and dull hair has been compared to rootless weeds. One of the girls is apparently burdened with the miseries of poverty. One of the boys has inherited his father’s disease and has stunted growth. Another student is sitting unnoticed and he is yearning to play outdoors.
Pick phrases that portray ‘poverty and hopelessness’ in the poem.
1. slag heap
2. spectacles of steel
3. gusty waves
4. run azure on gold sands
5. mended glass
6. squirrel’s game
7. language is the sun
a) 2, 4 and 7
b) 1, 3 and 5
c) 3, 4 and 6
d) 1, 2 and 5
Answers of the Above Questions.:
ReplyDeleteTHE RTC
1.)B
2.)A
3.)B
4.)C
SUBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
a.) The classroom are not well maintained since a long time due to which the paint on them appears like sour cream.
b.) Some of the aspects mentioned in the above stanza are civilized domes, Belled, flowery Tyrolese valley highlight a civilized race.
c.) The Tyrolese valley mentioned in the above stanza refers to the the Beautiful valleys in the nature full of flowers to which these slum children are not connected to.
d.) The Phrase " Awarding the world its world" means establishing a union between the two unconnected world. Firstly, the world of these slum children which are trapped in the web of poverty and lack any source of information and education. And other world symbolizes the modern world full of aspiration, opportunities and natural beauty.
e.)1.) repeated
2.) In the poem "An Elementary School classroom in a Slum", Stephen Spender has described the reality of slum children living in narrow streets, under lead colored sky. He gives description of slum children such as there is a girl whose head is weigh down due the burden of poverty. There is another child malnourished and thin as paper. Another child is reciting about the gnarled disease he inherited from his father, and within theses children there ones child daydreaming and lost in his world.
3.)1,2,5
THE RTC
ReplyDelete1.)B
2.)A
3.)B
4.)C
SUBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
a.) The classroom are not well maintained since a long time due to which the paint on them appears like sour cream.
b.) Some of the aspects mentioned in the above stanza are civilized domes, Belled, flowery Tyrolese valley highlight a civilized race.
c.) The Tyrolese valley mentioned in the above stanza refers to the the Beautiful valleys in the nature full of flowers to which these slum children are not connected to.
d.) The Phrase " Awarding the world its world" means establishing a union between the two unconnected world. Firstly, the world of these slum children which are trapped in the web of poverty and lack any source of information and education. And other world symbolizes the modern world full of aspiration, opportunities and natural beauty.
e.)1.) repeated
2.) In the poem "An Elementary School classroom in a Slum", Stephen Spender has described the reality of slum children living in narrow streets, under lead colored sky. He gives description of slum children such as there is a girl whose head is weigh down due the burden of poverty. There is another child malnourished and thin as paper. Another child is reciting about the gnarled disease he inherited from his father, and within theses children there ones child daydreaming and lost in his world.
3.)1,2,5