Going Places By A.R. Barton

     Going Places    

By A.R. Barton

About the author

A. R. Barton is a modern writer, who lives in Zurich and Writes in English. He has authored many stories like “Going Places” which are mainly concerned with the problems and the stage of adolescence.

Introduction

The theme of this story is adolescent fantasizing and hero-worship. It is quite natural for teenagers to have unrealistic dreams especially when their families are not well off. It is because of the fact that the socio-economic background plays a leading role in the lives of the youths for choosing a particular profession. The act of fantasizing may lead to miseries in case it is beyond our approach. It is useless to build castles in the air.

Characters

1. Sophie: a school going teenager

2. Jansie: a friend and classmate of Sophie

3. Geoff: An elder brother of Sophie

4. Derek: a younger brother of Sophie

5. Danny Casey: A young Irish football player

6. Tom Finney: A great football player

7. United: name of the football team

8. Father & mother of Sophie

Summary

Sophie, a teenager is filled with fantasies and desires. She comes from a poor financial background. She dreams of owning a boutique one day or being an actress or fashion designer but her friend Jansie believes that they are from a poor financial background and have to work in a biscuit factory. Jansie, who is more realistic, tries to pull Sophie to reality, but in vain. Sophie lives in a small house with her parents and brothers, Geoff and little Derek. Though she voices her feelings and desires, her parents don’t believe her because they, unlike her, are more mature and know the harsh realities of life.

Sophie finds a sort of fascination for her elder brother Geoff, who is tall, strong, handsome and reserved. She envies his silence and often wonders about his thoughts and areas of his life that she doesn’t know about.

Sophie fantasizes about Danny Casey, an Irish football player whom she had seen playing in innumerable matches. She makes up a story about how she met him in the streets and tells this to Geoff. Geoff, who is more sensible than Sophie, does not really believe her, even if she wants to. It seems an unlikely incident for Sophie to meet the prodigy in their street, but when Sophie describes the meeting in all her details, he begins to hope that it could be true. She tells him that Danny has promised to meet her somewhere again.

Sophie gets so pulled into the story she made that she herself begins to believe that it’s true. She waits for the Irish player, but obviously, he never arrives. Then, she makes her way home, wondering how her brother would be disappointed in knowing that Danny Casey never showed up. However, Sophie still fantasizes about her hero, Danny Casey and believes he would definitely come to meet her.

Main points

1. The lesson explores the theme of adolescent fantasies and hero worship.

2. Sophie, a young girl always dreams of big and beautiful things.

3. Her ambitions have no relation to the harsh realities of life.

4. Jansie, Sophie’s friend is a realistic and practical girl.

5. Both Sophie and Jansie belong to lower-middle-class families.

6. Sophie adores an Irish Footballer Danny Casey and makes imaginary flights to meet him.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. What does Sophie dream of doing after she passes out of school? Why do you call it a ‘dream’ and not a ‘plan?


Ans. Sophie dreams to have a boutique of her own. It will be the most amazing shop the city has ever seen. She says that she will buy a boutique if ever she comes into money. She does not mind becoming an actress to run a boutique as a side business. Since she has no money or experience, it is called a ‘dream’ and not a ‘plan’.

Q2. What are the other dreams of Sophie in addition to having a boutique?


Ans. The greatest dream of Sophie is to have a boutique. She wants to be a bit sophisticated and rise above her lower-middle-class status. Her other dream is of being an actress as “there’s real money in that”. Moreover, actresses don’t work full time. She can look after her first love i.e. boutique as a side business. She has another option. She can be a fashion designer, and do something sophisticated.

Q3. Why does Jansie say: “Soaf you really should be sensible”?



Ans. Jansie knows Sophie’s family background and financial position. She knows that both of them are earmarked for that biscuit factory. Sophie dreams of big and beautiful things like having a boutique or becoming an actress or a fashion designer. All these things need a lot of money and experience. Sophie has neither of them. So Jansie advises her to be sensible and stop having wild dreams.

Q4. Compare and contrast Sophie and Jansie?


Ans. Sophie and Jansie are classmates and friends but they are poles apart in thinking and temperament. Sophie is an incurable dreamer and escapist. She dreams of big and beautiful things, which are beyond her reach. On the other hand, Jansie is realistic and practical. She knows that they are poor and have to work in the biscuit factory after leaving school. She is well aware that big things require big money and experience, which they don’t have.

Q5. What job is Geoff engaged in? How does he differ from his sister, Sophie?


Ans. Geoff is a grown-up boy. He left school three years ago. Now he is an apprentice mechanic. He has to travel to his work each day to the far side of the city. He speaks little but listens to his sister’s ‘wild stories’. But he is not a daydreamer like her. He knows the financial limitations of the family. He cautions Sophie against entertaining dreams for a celebrity like Danny Casey.

Q6. Why was Sophie jealous of Geoff’s silence?

Ans. Geoff was almost grown up now. He spoke little. Sophie was jealous of his silence. She knew that when he was not speaking, he was away somewhere. He was out in the surrounding country—in those places she had never been. She wanted to share her brother’s affection.

Q7. What does Sophie tell Geoff about her meeting with Danny Casey? How does Geoff react to it?


Ans. Sophie tells Geoff that she met Danny Casey. Geoff is surprised. He looks around abruptly and asks ‘where?’ Sophie replies that she met him in the arcade. Geoff can’t believe her. He says, “It’s never true.” He asks her, “What does he look like?” She replies that he has green eyes and is not very tall. Geoff is still not convinced.

Q8. How does Sophie’s father react when Geoff tells him about her meeting with Danny Casey?

Ans. Geoff informs his father that Sophie had a meeting with Danny Casey. He turns his head on his thick neck to look at her in disbelief. His expression is one of disdain. He ignores the news and goes on to talk about Tom Finney. He hopes that Danny will be like Tom Finney one day. When Sophie says that Casey is going to buy a shop, he reacts sharply. “This is another of your wild stories.”

Q9. Who was Danny Casey? How did the members of Sophie’s family react to him?
Ans. Danny Casey was a young Irish football player. He played for the United. The Irish prodigy could easily dodge the defenders and score goals. Sophie’s father was a football fan. He admired old heroes like Tom Finney and young wonder boy Casey. Geoff had a large poster of United first-team squad on his bedroom wall. There were three colored photographs of Casey in the row below it. Every Saturday they went to watch United.

Q10. Where did Sophie meet Casey and what transpired between them?

Ans. Sophie met Danny Casey in the arcade. It was she who spoke first and asked if he was Casey. He looked surprised. He was certainly Danny Casey as he had the Irish accent. She had already heard him on television. She asked him for an autograph for little Derek. But neither of them had any paper or pen. Before going he promised to give his autograph if she cared to meet him next week.

Q11. How did Jansie react at Sophie’s story of her meeting with Danny Casey?

Ans. Jansie was a classmate and friend of Sophie. She lived in the same neighborhood. She knew Sophie quite well. She was also aware of Sophie’s habit of dreaming. On learning of her meeting with Danny Casey, her first reaction was of disbelief. “You never did”, exclaimed Jansie. But when Sophie told her about her request for an autograph, Jansie softened a little and said, “Jesus, I wish I’d have been there.”

Q12. Why did Sophie choose to walk by the canal? ‘What did she do there?

Ans. Sophie walked by the canal along a sheltered path. It was far away from the noise and crowd of the city. It was a place where she had often played when she was a child. There was a wooden bench beneath a solitary elm tree. Lovers sometimes came there. That was the most suitable place where she could dream of her hero Danny Casey

Q13. What did Sophie feel while sitting for hours and waiting for Danny Casey by the canal?

Ans. At first, Sophie was optimistic. She imagined him coming out of the shadows. When the time had elapsed, pangs of doubt stirred inside her. She became sad and despondent. Danny would not come there at all. She feared that people would laugh at the story of her meeting with Casey.

Q14. “Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind.” Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer.
Ans. I fully agree with the observation. Sophie’s dreams and disappointments are all in her mind, she is a hero-worshipper. The Irish prodigy is her hero. She imagines her meeting with him. Her day-dreaming makes her sad and despondent. The idea that Casey will not come at all is quite painful to her. Thus her dreams and disappointments are products of her mind only. They have nothing to do with reality.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. What impression do you form of Sophie on reading the story ‘Going Places’?

Ans. Sophie is a young schoolgirl. She dreams of big and beautiful things. Some of these are beyond her reach. Her ambitions have no relation to the harsh realities of life. She thinks of having a boutique. She wants to have the most amazing shop this city has ever seen. Then she entertains the idea of being an actress ‘There’s real money in that.’ Actresses do now work full time. So she would run the boutique as a side business. If need be, she can be a fashion designer. She doesn’t realize that her family is not rich enough and her dreams can’t be fulfilled.

Sophie develops a romantic fascination with Danny Casey. He is a young Irish football player and the hero of her dreams. She indulges in hero worship. She tells the story that she met Casey. Her father calls it another of her “wild stories”. Even Geoff does not believe her. She has seen Casey only once, but all the time she thinks of him. She sits alone and waits for his arrival. She becomes sad and despondent when Casey does not come. She suffers because of her dreams. These dreams and disappointments are all the creations of her mind.

Q2. Compare and contrast Sophie and Jansie highlighting their temperament and aspirations.

Ans. Sophie and Jansie are classmates and friends. They belong to lower-middle-class families. Both of them are earmarked for the biscuit factory. Jansie is down to earth. She is practical and realist. But Sophie is totally blind to the harsh realities of life. She dreams of big and beautiful things. She wants to have a boutique. She thinks of becoming an actress as there is a lot of money in this profession. If need be, she can also be a fashion designer. In short, she loves to be grand and sophisticated. All her dreams are beyond her reach and resources. Jansie advises her to be sensible, but she remains a romantic dreamer.

Sophie and Jansie differ in thinking and temperament. Sophie is lost in her dream world, she shares her secret with only one person. It is her elder brother Geoff. Jansie is ‘nosey’. She takes an interest in learning new things about others. She can spread the story in the whole neighborhood. So Sophie doesn’t want to share secrets with her.

Q3. Describe the bond between Geoff and Sophie in spite of differences in their temperament and thinking.

Ans. Geoff was Sophie’s elder brother. He was three years out of school. He was an apprentice mechanic. He traveled to his work each day to the far side of the city. He was almost grown up now. He spoke very little. Sophie was jealous of Geoff’s silence. He was quiet and didn’t make new friends easily. He thought that Sophie was too young and immature. Geoff was mature enough to understand his limitations and those of his family. He never dreamt of big and beautiful things.

In spite of differences in their temperaments, there was a close bond between the two. Geoff was always the first to share Sophie’s secrets. He knew that Sophie’s story of meeting with Danny Casey was not true. Still, he listened to her. Sophie confided in him. Her secret was something special just between them. It was not meant for nosey Jansie who would spread it in the whole neighborhood. Geoff tried to persuade Sophie. He warned her that Danny Casey was a celebrity. He must have many girls like her running after him. Sophie told him that Casey would give her an autograph if she cared to meet him next week. Geoff did not believe “he’d ever show up.” Thus he acted like an elder brother.

Q4. Who was Danny Casey? How was he adored by the family of Sophie, and especially by Sophie and her father?

Ans. Danny Casey was an Irish Prodigy. He was a wonder boy of football. He had won the hearts of his countless fans. He played for United. Sophie’s family was obsessed with the Irish genius. Sophie’s father compared young Danny Casey to another great football player Tom Finney. He wished that Casey might be that good someday. Geoff remarked that he was with the best team in the country. He hoped that Casey would prove even a better player than Tom Finney. Geoff considered him the best. His father thought that he was too young for the first team. The fact was that with his exceptional ability he was playing for the first eleven.

On Saturday, Sophie’s family made their weekly pilgrimage to the stadium to watch United play their match. They watched their hero Danny Casey in action. Sophie adored Danny Casey. She had a romantic fascination for the Irish prodigy. Her young heart throbbed for her hero. She imagined Casey coming to her. She would sit under an elm tree, waiting for Casey and dreaming of him. She realized that he would not come. This made her sad and dejected. Sophie became a victim of her own dreams and disappointments.

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Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers By Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

By Adrienne Rich

About the Poet

Adrienne Rich was an American poet and essayist. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 16, 1929. She was brought up in a well-off family. She was the elder of two daughters. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a music composer. In 1953, she married Harvard University economist Alfred H. Conrad.

She attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1951, and was selected by W.H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize. Two years later, she published her second volume of poetry, The Diamond Cutters. After having three sons before the age of thirty, Rich gradually changed both her life and her poetry. Throughout the 1960s, she wrote several collections. The content of her work became increasingly confrontational—exploring such themes as women’s role in society, racism, and the Vietnam War.

In 1997, she refused the National Medal of Arts, stating that “I could not accept such an award from White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration.” The same year, Rich was awarded the Academy’s Wallace Stevens Award for outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry. She died on March 27, 2012, at the age of eighty-two.

Poem: Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,

Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.

They do not fear the men beneath the tree;

The pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her wool

Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.

The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band

Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie

Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.

The tigers in the panel that she made

Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Introduction

Adrienne Rich was brought up in a well-off family. Rich felt dominated by her father’s strong personality while growing up. It was he who most guided her as a young poet. This wasn’t always to her liking as he expected her to write her poems his way. When Rich was growing up men dominated and women were expected to become dutiful wives in their adult lives. All these elements may have influenced the picture of marriage Rich drew in this poem. At the heart of the poem is an image of a husband who controls and frightens his wife. Rich wrote a lot of poems based on everyday experience. One topic she often featured was the tension, women felt due to being dominated by their husbands. In ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ Rich is mocking the weakness of Aunt Jennifer and the clout and authority of Jennifer’s husband in their marriage.

Summary

In the poem ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ a woman expresses her suppressed feelings through her art. Aunt Jennifer is the victim of the male-dominated society. She has no one to tell her mental and physical pain. She makes a picture to convey her deep feelings. The speaker describes the tigers which her aunt produced on the panel. They are set in motion. They are moving quickly by raising the front legs and jumping forwards on the back legs. In the green jungle, they look free, bright, brave, fearless and magnificent.

There are men sitting under the tree, but the Tigers do not care for them. They move on to their goal boldly and smoothly. Jennifer finds it difficult to make pictures by using the ivory needle. She is tired of doing household work after she got married. She can’t get herself involved in her artistic work. She has to do it in her leisure time. Even then she has to be sure whether her husband is watching her or not. So her hands are terrified. She will not be free from fear until she dies. She will be dominated by her husband. She will die, but her art will express her desire to move proudly and fearlessly like the tigers she has made.

Main points

• In this poem, the poet addresses the constraints of married life, experienced by a woman.

• Aunt Jennifer weaves tigers into the panel. These tigers are brave & have no fear of men.

• Aunt Jennifer is terrified by her dominating husband. Her finger flutters due to mental suppression. She is not happy with her married life.

• She will die but her art will express her desire to move proudly and fearlessly like the tigers she has made.

Important Extracts

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree:
The pace in sleek chivalric certainty.”

Q1. What does prancing tigers symbolize?

Ans. Prancing tigers are a symbol of the spirit of freedom within Aunt Jennifer which remains subdued.

Q2. Why are they referred to as ‘denizens of a world of green’?

Ans. The tigers are the dwellers of the green forest so they are referred to as denizens.

Q3. What qualities of the ‘tigers’ are highlighted here?

Ans. Fearlessness and ferocity of the tigers are highlighted here. Aunt Jennifer’s nervousness and timidity are in sharp contrast to wild ferocity of the tigers who are not afraid of hunting men. Unlike Aunt Jennifer, the tigers fear nothing.

Q4. Explain; “They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”.

Ans. The movement of the tigers are sleek, stealthy, sure, majestic and elegant. They are sure of their purpose. Gallant and confident, they move ahead fearlessly undeterred by any obstacles or hindrances.


Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.”

Q1. Why do Aunt Jennifer’s fingers flutter through her wool?
Ans. Aunt Jennifer lives in constant fear of her husband. She feels so nervous and terrified that her hands shake and flutter when she sits down to knit.

Q2. Why does she find it hard to pull the ivory needle?
Ans. She finds it hard to pull the ivory needle more because of mental suppression than because of physical weakness. Due to constant fear that she confronts, has become a nervous wreck.

Q3. Explain: ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’.
Ans. The expression is symbolic of male authority and power. Matrimony binds the woman physically as well as mentally. Likewise Aunt Jennifer is trapped in gender oppression and feels herself burdened by the authority of her husband.

Q4. How is Aunt Jennifer affected by the ‘weight of matrimony’?
Ans. Aunt Jennifer cannot do things freely. She tries to come up to the expectation of her husband. She seems to have lost her identity. The freedom that she dreams of through her art, is itself symbolic of her oppressed self.


Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.”

Q1. What is Aunt Jennifer’s death symbolic of?
Ans. Aunt Jennifer’s death is symbolic of her complete submission to her suppression.

Q2. Explain: “terrified hands”.
Ans. Aunt Jennifer is terrified by her dominating husband and hence her hands are shivering.

Q3. What does ‘ringed with ordeals’ imply?
Ans. Aunt Jennifer has been so victimized in her life that even after death she remains trapped. We find her a victim of gender injustice and oppression.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. How do the tigers made by Aunt Jennifer look like?

Ans. The tigers, made by Aunt Jennifer on the screen, are jumping and playing about without any fear of the men beneath the tree. They walk in elegance and style displaying the spirit of courage, fearlessness, strength and confidence.

Q2. What do the tigers made by the Aunt symbolize?

Ans. The tigers made by Aunt Jennifer symbolize the spirit of courage, strength and fearlessness Aunt Jennifer, a victim of male oppression, expresses her crushed feelings in the form of art. So, the tigers are symbolic of the fear of male domination with which Aunt Jennifer suffers.

Q3. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are fluttering through her wool? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is victimized by the overbearing and dominant nature of her husband. Her life has become a torture due to her suppression by her atrocious husband. The fear of her authoritative husband has gone so deep into her being that she seems to have lost all strength and energy. Thus her hands shake and flutter so much that she is not even able to pull the needle through the tapestry.

Q4. What do you understand by “massive weight of uncle’s wedding band”?

Ans. Generally ‘wedding band’ is a symbol of joy and happiness. But in case of Aunt Jennifer, it has become a symbol of torture and oppression. Her relationship with her authoritative husband has become a painful burden to carry. Her ‘wedding band’ has brought her a world of pain, misery and torture. She has lost her freedom and entered a world of humiliation and oppression.

Q5. Explain ’her terrified hands will lie, still ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by’.
Ans. These lines convey Aunt’s complete submission to the oppressive authority of her husband. The fear of her husband has gone so deep into her being that even death cannot liberate her from the chains of her mental suppression. Memories of her husband’s tortures and atrocities that bent her into humiliating slavery will continue to haunt her even after her death.

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A Roadside Stand By Robert Frost

A Roadside Stand

By Robert Frost

About the Poet

Robert Frost was an American poet. He was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He was born on 26 March 1874, San Francisco, California, the United States to journalist William Prescott Frost. His mother was a Scottish immigrant. Frost’s father was a teacher and later an editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. After his death on May 5, 1885, the family moved across the country to Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Frost graduated from Lawrence High School in 1892. In 1894, he sold his first poem, “My Butterfly” for $15 ($434 today). Proud of his accomplishment, he proposed marriage to Elinor Miriam White, but she demurred and asked him to finish his college. Frost attended Harvard University from 1897 to 1899, but he left voluntarily due to illness. Frost then went on an excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and asked Elinor again upon his return. Having graduated, she agreed, and they were married at Lawrence, Massachusetts on December 19, 1895.

In 1912, Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, settling first in Beaconsfield, a small town outside London. He met or befriended many contemporary poets in England, especially after his first two poetry volumes were published in London in 1913.

In 1915, during World War – I, Frost returned to America and bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, the USA where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing. Frost taught English at Amherst College in Massachusetts, notably encouraging his students to account for the myriad sounds and intonations of the spoken English language in their writing.

Robert Frost’s personal life was plagued by grief and loss. In 1885 when he was 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family with just eight dollars. Frost’s mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, he had to commit his younger sister Jeanie to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost’s family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children. Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937 and died of heart failure in 1938. Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Poem: A Roadside Stand

The little old house was out with a little new shed

In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped,

A roadside stand that too pathetically pled,

It would not be fair to say for a dole of bread,

But for some of the money, the cash, whose flow supports

The flower of cities from sinking and withering faint.

The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead,

Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts

At having the landscape marred with the artless paint

Of signs that with N turned wrong and S turned wrong

Offered for sale wild berries in wooden quarts,

Or crook-necked golden squash with silver warts,

Or beauty rest in a beautiful mountain scene,

You have the money, but if you want to be mean,

Why keep your money (this crossly) and go along.

The hurt to the scenery wouldn’t be my complaint

So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid:

Here far from the city, we make our roadside stand

And ask for some city money to feel in the hand

To try if it will not make our expanding,

And give us the life of the moving-pictures’ promise

That the party in power is said to be keeping from us.

It is in the news that all these pitiful kin

Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in

To live in villages, next to the theatre and the store,

Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore,

While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey

Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits

That is calculated to soothe them out of their wits,

And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day,

Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way.

Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear

The thought of so much childish longing in vain,

The sadness that lurks near the open window there,

That waits all day in almost open prayer

For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,

Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass,

Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.

And one did stop, but only to plow up grass

In using the yard to back and turn around;

And another to ask the way to where it was bound;

And another to ask could they sell it a gallon of gas

They couldn’t (this crossly); they had none, didn’t it see?

No, in-country money, the country scale of gain,

The requisite lift of spirit has never been found,

Or so the voice of the country seems to complain,

I can’t help owning the great relief it would be

To put these people at one stroke out of their pain.

And then the next day as I come back into the sane,

I wonder how I should like you to come to me

And offer to put me gently out of my pain.

Introduction

The poet contrasts the lives of the people who live in cities and those who live in the country. He highlights the plight of the deprived villagers who are aching for some money to lead a prosperous life. The life of the poor people is very miserable because they are in the paucity of money. It is only the money that can lift their living standard but they don’t have any. The poet wishes to relieve the rural people of the pain at one stroke.

Summary

Robert Frost presents the apathy of the city dwellers & rich persons towards the poor farmers who have constructed a roadside stand to sell their products and earn a living but they pass speedily in their cars and do not even bother to stop for a while and take a look at it. The farmers discover that nobody is interested in their products and never even stops to inquire about the prices. The villagers hope for a life of comfort like urban people by earning some money. The news of their settlement near the theatre of the store is also under discussion among them. The greedy good-doers solace them for restful sleep and livelihood but literally, they are cheating and want to grasp their farms and lands. The poor farmers sit the whole day praying but all in vain. Sometimes, rarely, a car stops but for its own selfishness. They stop either to seek some fuel or ask the destination of the path. The poet is disturbed seeing the pitiful and misfortunate life of the villagers and anticipate some real consolation and concern for those ill-fated hard workers.

Apathy = lack of interest/feeling/emotion/concern

Detailed Explanation

Poor villagers have made little new huts out of the houses on the roadside. Traffic passes from that road speedily. Those little temporary huts do not ask for any donation but pray for some attention. They expect to earn some money by selling wild berries and golden squash. The money helps cities to develop. Vehicles pass without paying any attention. Even if someone looks at them, they find signs and symbols totally unshaped and unartistic. The travelers pass without buying anything. The poet is not angry or disappointed by the ignorance of scenery but disheartened because of empty hands. They have opened those roadside stands for not only their earnings but to facilitate the city dwellers with fresh and genuine objects. They also want to increase the standard of their living and follow their ideas as they are promised to be in comfort by the leaders and eminent persons.

There is the news that those poor farmers would be settled in the villages near the theatre and store where they will be looked after properly and will have nothing to worry about. The poet advocates that those greedy good-doers are cheating the innocent farmers and planning to capture their farms and lands deceitfully.

The poet often thinks about the miserable condition of these poor people and is unable to sustain the useless expectation that is never going to be fulfilled. Every hope remains pending because nobody cares for them. From morning to evening, the poor farmer waits and prays to God for some real customers to buy their products. They want to listen to the sharp sound of brakes but no one stops there to buy their products. Even if anyone stops, he stops not to inquire about the prices but to use that empty and broad space for backing and turning the vehicle or enquiring about the route’s rightness or the availability of the fuel. The anger of farmers is natural as they are only used for the selfishness. They reply irritatingly and question the common sense of the car owners.

The life of the poor people is very miserable because they are in the paucity of money. It is only the money that can lift their living standard but they don’t have any. This is why the spirit of poor people remains depressed. The poet wishes to relieve the rural people of the pain at one stroke.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why was the ‘little old house’ extended towards the road?
Ans. The little old house was extended on the roadside to attract the rich men passing in their cars and make a living by selling their products to them.

Q2. Which traffic is referred to here? Why are they ‘speeding?’

Ans. The traffic is referred to the cars and other vehicles of the rich people. These rich people are in a great hurry to make money in other cities.

Q3. Why is the Stand’s existence said to be ‘pathetic?’

Ans. The roadside stands expect to get some city-money into their hands by selling their products. But their expectations are never fulfilled as the rich people are not considerate about them and don’t stop there to buy their products.

Q4. Why is it unfair to say that these people are begging for a ‘dole of bread?’

Ans. These poor people are not beggars. They are not asking for any donations. They have made roadside stands only to sell their items and make a living.

Q5. What do poor people really expect from the rich?

Ans. The poor people expect a small share of the money from rich people.

Q6. How do the poor people look at the city money?

Ans. For poor people, money is very essential for growth and survival. It boosts the growth of the city and the city people.

Q7. What is the flower of the cities? How?

Ans. Prosperity is the flower of the cities. As the flower is the crowning glory of a plant, growth, and prosperity become the flower of a city. But the city people are quite insensitive to the poor sufferers and pass by their stands in their cars. They are not bothered at all to have a look at them.

Q8. What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?
Ans. Polished traffic portrays the insensitive attitude of the city-men for the poor farmers. They appear to be ‘polished’ from outside but their minds do not understand the sufferings of the poor people.

Q9. What attitude does the polished traffic show?
Ans. The polished traffic passes with a mind ahead and does not pay a little bit of attention to the roadside stands.

Q10. Explain, ‘passed with a mind ahead.’

Ans. The city people who pass by the roadside stand are selfish and self-centered. Their minds are restless with greed for money and ambitions for great profits in their business.

Q11. What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the roadside stand? 

(OR)

How senseless do the rich men’s complaints sound to the poor people?

Ans. The rich men’s complaints sound to be senseless as they say that they have distorted the beauty of the landscape by putting up their stalls on the roadside and painting their houses in the most awkward way. They have also erected boards near their stands with wrong signs of S and N.

Q12. How do poor people ruin the landscape?

Ans. The poor people ruin the beauty of the landscape by putting up their stands/stalls on the roadside. Their houses are painted in the most unprofessional manner with the most mismatching paint.

Q13. What articles are ‘offered for sale’ at the stand?

Ans. Wild berries, crook-necked golden squash, and paintings of mountain scenery are offered for sale at the roadside stand.

Q14. What do the poor people of the roadside stand feel when the city people decline from buying anything?

Ans. When rich people decline to buy their products from the roadside stand, they feel dejected and angry. They ask the city people to keep their money with them and make their own way.

Q15. What do you understand when the poet says that the trusting sorrow of the poor people is ‘unsaid?’

Ans. The poor people place their trust in the fake promises of the rich people and the ruling parties and consequently become sad. The poet complains that this sorrow of the poor people has not been brought to the serious concern of the concerned authorities, media and the public.

Q16. What do the people at the roadside stand expect from the rich? What for?

Ans. The poor people at the roadside stand expect the generosity of the rich city people. They hope to alleviate their poverty by getting money from the city people.

Q17. What are the moving pictures? What kind of life is promised by the ‘moving pictures?Ans. The movies the poor people have watched are full of promises for them. In those movies, they saw people who journeyed from poverty to prosperity.

Q18. What do ‘the parties in power’ keep from the poor people?

Ans. The governments and corrupt politicians keep the shares and the allotted rights of the poor people away from them and use them for their selfish motives.

Q19. What is good news for poor people?

Ans. The media keep on advertising that the governments are planning schemes for the welfare of poor people.

Q20. Who are the greedy good doers? What is the irony in the ‘greedy good-doers?’

Ans. The leaders of political parties and businessmen are the greedy good-doers mentioned here. A greedy person cannot be a good doer. These good-doers intend to make money out of the poor people by appearing beneficent to them.

Q21. How do the rich ‘enforce benefits’ on the poor?

Ans. The rich businessmen convince the poor of the advantages of their new schemes and promotions and make them buy their products and be their customers.

Q22. What sort of calculation is made to ‘soothe the wits of the poor?’ Does this calculation work? How?

Ans. The business-minded city people attract poor people with their well-planned promotional offers and promises. These promises and offers are in such a way calculated that the poor people cannot escape the traps of the rich. The business man’s calculations work well as there is a more efficient brain behind all these promises.

Q23. How do the influential rich destroy the sleep of the poor? How is this done in ancient times?
Ans. The influential rich people give the poor great promises and exploit them for their personal gains. This destroys the sleep of poor people. This method of the rich and mighty is as old as the human civilizations.

Q24. What is the childish longing? Why is it in vain?
Ans. Children long to achieve things beyond their reach but never get them. The poor people’s expectation that the rich people would give them money is their childish longing. It is in vain because the hard-hearted rich people never give them a penny.

Q25. Why can’t the poet bear the childish longing of the poor people?

Ans. The poet is a true humanitarian who is genuinely concerned about the poor people’s misfortunes. He wants a solution to their poverty. But seeing how childish their longings are, the poet feels it is unbearable.

Q26. What is the prayer of the open window?

Ans. The open window prays that the city people would stop on their stand and buy their products. Thus this generous amount can alleviate the distress of the poor people.

Q27. Why are cars called ‘selfish cars?

Ans. The cars are selfish because the people who travel in them are selfish and self-centered.

Q28. What do you understand by ‘farmer’s prices’?
Ans. Farmer’s prices refer to the prices of the berries, squash, and paintings displayed at the roadside stand for sale.

Q29. What is the strange demand of the rich man at the roadside stand? How is it quite strange?
Ans. The insensitive city man demands a gallon of gas at the roadside stand. This is quite strange because the city man is not aware of the fact that the poor man cannot provide him with expensive items such as gas.

Q30. Why are the poor people angry with the city men when they ask for gas?

Ans. The roadside stand has the store of wild berries, squash, and paintings that are never bought by the city men. On the contrary, the city men require a gallon of gas and the roadside stand does not have it for sale. This helplessness makes the poor people angry.

Q31. What is the voice of the country?

Ans. The voice of the country is that the rich people have no concern for them and that they are being exploited, cheated and given false promises by the parties in power. There is no end for their miseries.

Q32. What kind of relief does the poet dream for poor people?

Ans. The poet dreams of some magical help for the poor people, so that the poor people will be redeemed from their state of poverty and misery instantly.

Q33. Why does the poet seek an unrealistic solution for the poor people’s distress even though he himself blamed them earlier for their ‘childish longing in vain?’
Ans. The poet, unlike the greedy good-doers, genuinely wishes to get the poor people out of their pain, poverty and endless miseries but he is sad and helpless to see that there is no one to help them come out of their poverty. This helplessness drives the poet to seek an unrealistic solution for poor people’s misery.

Q34. What is the poet’s pain?

Ans. The poet’s pain is that poor people are still waiting for rich people’s generosity and that rich people never help poor people. He is also said that his insane dreams of the poor people helped by a stroke were only dreams.

Q35. How does the poet feel helpless?
Ans. The poet finally concludes that he is totally helpless to remove the pain of the farmers. He can’t put those people out of their pain at one stroke.

Q36. How can his readers remove the poet’s pain?
Ans. The readers can get the poet out of his pain by offering to help the poor people.

Q. Name the figures of speech used in the poem.

Ans. (a) Transferred Epithet: There are two examples of the transferred epithet in the poem:

• ‘Polished traffic’ is referred to the city dwellers who pass by the roadside stand.
• ‘Selfish cars’ is yet another use of a transferred epithet. This refers to the car owners who stop at the roadside stand not to buy their products but to ask about the path or the fuel.

(b) Personification: “the sadness that lurks behind the open window there…” Sadness is an example of personification. Sadness dwells in the windows of the farmers because they wait for cars to stop and buy their articles.

(c) Alliteration and Oxymoron: ‘Greedy good doers’ and ‘beneficent beasts of prey’ are examples of both alliteration and oxymoron.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Summarise the poem in your own words.

Ans. Robert Frost experiences the pain of the poor farmers who have made their little shaded stalls on the roadside to sell their products but the poet observes that the city people are not at all interested in their offerings. On the other hand, selfish travelers criticize their presentations and pass thoroughly without having a look at them. Poet is hurt by their behavior and attitude and has a complaint about their survival as they too want to be part of the flow of the economy. They too have the right to live comfortably like their ideals. But they are always used for the self-motives of the greedy good-doers. They enforce their benefits over the poor farmers, misguide them and destroy their ancient culture and way of living by lulling them. They just want to grasp their fields and houses. Poet is tired and finds his expectations failed. He is too much disappointed by the financial condition and struggle of the distressed peasants who for the whole day sit, pray and wait for the cars to stop at least to inquire or to buy their products but the self-centered egoistic persons use the empty place to turn their vehicles or sometimes stop to ask about the fuel or the route’s destination. The anger of farmers is natural, they reply and ask irritatingly for the common sense of the proud persons. Poet realizes that no miracle can be seen and he is unable to console the poverty-stricken farmers and it’s impossible to extricate the villagers out of their pain at one stroke. He realizes when finds himself sensible that his call is futile to help them and no one is ready to help them.

Q2. Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed?

Ans. Yes, I’ve stopped at a roadside stand on a highway twice or thrice and found that the villagers have too many expectations from us, who pass from those roads. They work hard for the whole day and their family members sit there to sell fresh vegetables, fruits, juices and, other products. Very few of us actually purchase something but only use them for general queries like asking about road maps or petrol for our vehicles or many times to use that broad empty space to turn our vehicles. I also observed that those farmers are pitiful and facing very miserable conditions and fighting for their existence and survival. Those merciful poor farmers should be helped and treated like human beings. They should not be cheated and used for introversion purposes. They also contribute to the growth and economy of the country as they grow crops for the whole of mankind.

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A Thing of Beauty By John Keats

A Thing of Beauty

By John Keats

About the poet

John Keats was a British Romantic poet. He was born on October 31, 1795, in London. He lost both his parents at a young age. His father, a livery-stable keeper, died when Keats was eight; his mother died of tuberculosis six years later. After his mother’s death, Keats’s maternal grandmother appointed two London merchants, Richard Abbey and John Rowland Sandell, as guardians. Abbey, a prosperous tea broker, assumed the bulk of this responsibility, while Sandell played only a minor role. When Keats was fifteen, Abbey withdrew him from the Clarke School, Enfield, to apprentice with an apothecary-surgeon and study medicine in a London hospital. In 1816 Keats became a licensed apothecary, but he never practiced his profession, deciding instead to write poetry.

Keats spent the summer of 1818 on a walking tour in Northern England and Scotland, returning home to care for his brother, Tom, who suffered from tuberculosis. While nursing his brother, Keats met and fell in love with a woman named Fanny Brawne. That same autumn Keats contracted tuberculosis, and by the following February he felt that death was already upon him.

In July 1820, he published his third and best volume of poetry, Lamia, Isabella but by that time he had reached an advanced stage of his disease. He continued a correspondence with Fanny Brawne and when he could no longer bear to write to her directly because of his failing health, her mother prevented their getting married. Under his doctor’s orders to seek a warm climate for the winter, Keats went to Rome with his friend, the painter Joseph Severn. He died there on February 23, 1821, at the age of twenty-five, and was buried in the Protestant cemetery.

Background

The poem is based on a Greek legend in which Endymion a handsome young shepherd and poet who lived on Mount Latmos, had a vision of Cynthia, the moon goddess. The enchanted youth resolved to seek her out and so wandered away through the forest and down under the sea.

Central Idea

Beauty is a heavenly tonic/drink – an endless fountain of nectar. This beauty comes in different forms – a tale, a poem, a play, a lovely object of nature or the heavenly bodies. It soothes our spirits and gives us good health, sound sleep and mental peace. It removes sadness from our lives and gives an everlasting joy.

Summary

A beautiful thing is a source of eternal joy, its loveliness grows with the passage of time and its impact never fades away. It is as soothing as a cool shade. It never passes into nothingness. It gives us good health, sound sleep and mental peace. It provides the beholder with a haven of tranquility and solace.

Man and nature are inseparable. It is the beauty of nature that keeps us attached to this earth. Every morning we collect fresh lovely flowers and prepare garlands. They refresh our moods and we forget our worries for a while.

Every person gets a bitter taste of sorrow, suffering and grief. Disease, disappointments and misfortunes give us mental and physical suffering. It is the beautiful things that remove the pall of sadness from our lives and make us happy and hopeful.

All beautiful things of nature are a boon for human beings. The sun, the moon, the trees, daffodils, simple sheep, clear streams, forests ferns, musk rose etc. provide us peace and happiness.

In addition to these lovely objects of nature, there are plays and poems to lift our spirits. The glorious achievements of mighty heroes and magnificent rewards by God on the day of judgement for those mighty men, lovely tales of olden days are endless source of everlasting joy. The poet feels that nothing can surpass the beauty of nature. They are an elixir of life. They are like an endless fountain that pours immortal drink from the heaven into our hearts. So beauty is a gift of God and it gives us joy forever.

Main points

1. The beautiful things of nature are permanent source of joy and make our lives sweet.

2. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

3. It does not pass into nothingness but its beauty keeps on increasing.

4. It gives us sound sleep and good health;

5. This world is full of frustrations, disappointments and dearth of noble people.

6. These make our life gloomy and sad.

7. But things of beauty remove the pall and sadness from our spirits.

8. Nature is a constant source of happiness for human beings.

9. The beautiful things are – sheep, daffodils, clear streams, musk roses and forest thickets.

10. These things soothe and make us happy.

11. Stories of heroes who have died in peace of war are also things of beauty and have a stimulating effect.

12. But the beauties of nature are lovelier than all the lovely tales and are like the immortal drink from heaven.

Important Extracts

1. Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow:
A thing of beauty is a joy forever
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but will keep
A bower quiet for us, and asleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Questions

Q1. What is being said to be a joy forever?

Ans. A thing of beauty is said to be a joy forever.

Q2. What is peculiar about a beautiful thing?

Ans. A beautiful thing leaves a permanent impression on our minds. Its loveliness goes on increasing. It stays in our imagination and becomes a source of joy forever.

Q3. What can a beautiful thing do for the human beings?

Ans. A beautiful thing gives us a sound sleep full of sweet dreams, good health and a peaceful breathing. It also helps us in achieving the peace of mind. It removes sadness and brings happiness to our depressed spirits.

Q4. How does a thing of beauty keep a bower quiet for us?

Ans. It reserves a quiet place in our heart. When we are tired, tensed, troubled or disappointed, it heals our sorrows and restores happiness for us again.

Q5. Explain: “It will never pass into nothingness”.

Ans. A thing of beauty is a perennial thing. Its beauty goes on increasing. It will never be reduced into nothingness.

2. Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

Questions:

Q1. Who are the mighty dead?

Ans. The mighty dead are those who sacrificed their lives for a noble cause and made great achievements in their lifetime.

Q2. How is grandeur associated with the mighty dead?

Ans. The mighty dead are honored and worshiped for their remarkable achievements. Now they are lying buried under their graves. On the day of judgement, God also will reward them for their noble deeds. It is this dignity that is associated with them.

Q3. What lovely tales does the poet talk of?

Ans. He talks of the great myths and the tales of the olden days.

Q4. What does the poet call “an endless fountain of immortal drink”?

Ans. Beautiful things.

Q5. What image does the poet draw in the last two lines?

Ans. Beautiful things are like an endless fountain which goes on pouring the immortal drink unto us from the heaven. They are a source of immense joy and happiness.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. How is a thing of beauty a joy forever?
Ans. A thing of beauty is a joy forever as its loveliness increases through recollection and contemplation. It is a perennial source of pleasure that ensures good health and quiet breathing. It brings relief in our painful existence.

Q2. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?

Ans. In spite of troubles and sufferings, human beings love life because there are some beautiful things that move away the gloom from the depressed minds. The beautiful things in nature like the moon, the sun, the trees, the ferns and the daffodils bring happiness and reduce men’s sufferings.

Q3. List the things of beauty mentioned in the poem.

Ans. All beautiful things of nature are a boon for human beings. The sun, the moon, the trees, daffodils, simple sheep, clear streams, forests ferns, musk rose etc. provide us peace and happiness.

Q4. List the things that cause suffering and pain.

Ans. Disease, disappointments, jealousy, lack of human qualities, gloomy days, unhealthy and evil ways cause pains and sufferings in our lives.

Q5. What does the line, ‘Therefore are we wreathing a flowery band to bind us to earth’ suggest to you?

Ans. When we pluck fresh flowers to make a garland, it shows our love for life, for nature and for beauty. The flowers attract us and bind us to the nature and the earth.

Q6. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?

Ans. There are many things that depress our spirits but our nature has blessed us with beauty that alone makes our life happy. It removes the pall of sadness. It offers us loveliness and pleasures. So human beings love life.

Q7. Do we experience things of beauty only for short moments or do they make a lasting impression on us?

Ans. Things of beauty make a lasting impression on us and continue to delight us and give us joy. Beauty can never fade away or lose its value.

Q8. What image does the poet use to describe the beautiful bounty of the earth?

Ans. Human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings because nature is the best healer and it brings beauty and joy to our life. The memory of the beautiful experiences helps us to bear our sorrows and provide a peaceful retreat.

Q9. Why is grandeur associated with mighty dead?
Ans. Great men have great fall. The exploits of the mighty rulers and generals fill us with awe and wonder. We admire and even worship our heroes. We remember them gratefully because they sacrificed their lives for a noble cause.

Q10. What becomes of all lovely tales we have heard or read?
Ans. All lovely tales that we have heard or read become a source of pleasure. They become an endless fountain of nectar and give us heavenly pleasure.

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Keeping Quiet By Pablo Neruda

Keeping Quiet

By Pablo Neruda

About the poet

Pablo Neruda’s real name is Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He was born on 12 July 1904, in the town of Parral in Chile. His father was a railway employee and his mother, who died shortly after his birth, a teacher. Some years later his father, who had then moved to the town of Temuco, remarried Doña Trinidad Candia Malverde. The poet spent his childhood and youth in Temuco. At age 13, he began his literary career as a contributor to the daily La Mañana, where he published his first articles and poems. In 1920, he contributed to the literary journal Selva Austral under the pen name Pablo Neruda, which he assumed in honor of Czech poet Jan Neruda.

Neruda died just two years after receiving his Nobel Prize on September 23, 1973, in Santiago, Chile. Though his death was officially attributed to prostate cancer, there have been allegations that the poet was poisoned.

In 2011, Neruda’s chauffeur alleged that the writer said he’d been given an injection at a clinic by a physician that worsened his health. Chilean judge Mario Carroza later authorized an official investigation into the cause of death. Neruda’s body was exhumed in 2013 and examined, but a forensics team found no initial evidence of foul play.

Poem: Keeping Quiet

And now we will count to twelve

and we will all keep still.



For once on the face of the earth

let’s not speak in any language,

let’s stop for one second,

and not move our arms so much.



It would be an exotic moment

without rush, without engines.

We would all be together

in a sudden strangeness.



Fisherman in the cold sea

would not harm whales

and the man gathering salt

would not look at his hurt hands.



Those who prepare green wars,

wars with gas, wars with fire,

victory with no survivors,

would put on clean clothes

and walk about with their brothers

in the shade, doing nothing.



What I want should not be confused

with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about,

I want no truck with death.



If we were not so single-minded

about keeping our lives moving,

and for once could do nothing,

perhaps a huge silence

might interrupt this sadness

of never understanding ourselves

and of threatening ourselves with death.



Perhaps the earth can teach us

as when everything seems dead

and later proves to be alive.



Now I’ll count up to twelve,

and you keep quiet and I will go.

Introduction

The poet talks about the necessity of quiet introspection as it can develop a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings.

Theme

It is basically an anti-war poem. The poet is deeply concerned about violence, cruelty to animals and the plight of manual workers. The poet offers a very simple solution to many of our social, political and religious problems. The solution is self-introspection. If it is acted upon, it will be the first major step towards uniting people. The second step is that everyone should look within and analyze what is wrong and who is the wrongdoer. This will cleanse every heart and ennoble all people.

Summary

This poem advocates the importance of silence and self- introspection. It can transform not only the life of an individual but also the face of the earth. The poet says that it does not need much time to look within and examine oneself. It will take only as long as it will take to count to twelve. During this time of introspection (self-examination), one should keep quiet and say nothing at all. It will give him a strange feeling of togetherness with all others.

Although it may seem a little strange in the beginning, it will eventually bring us all together. This silence will be free from ‘the disturbing sounds of engines and people rushing to get their work done’ for some time. He feels contended imagining the change that will be brought about in those moments. The men who hurt their hands while collecting salt will get a little rest. Even the people who seek fresh wars, using fatal gas and weapons, will put on clean clothes and get a chance to walk among their brothers. They will lead a hatred-free and calm life, giving a halt to their destructive activities.

The poet clarifies that his wish should not be considered as a case for “total inactivity”. He only wants to interrupt the sad, cruel and baleful activities of the world for a few moments and make the people introspect their actions. In fact what he says is connected with life, not with death. Activity is the very essence of life. Inactivity is death but for a fresh, better and useful activity, a little stillness is essential.

The poet uses the image of the earth to show how life exists in seemingly dormant things. In winter, the earth becomes so still and silent that it seems to be dead. But later in spring, it seems to be lively again. It has new beauties and colors added to it. Similarly, after a little quietness and silence, man can resume his activities in a fresh and better manner.

Main points

1. The poem talks about the necessity of quiet introspection.

2. It will help people to understand themselves & will create a feeling of mutual love & relationship.

3. By quiet introspection, the poet doesn’t mean total inactivity, instead, he wants full involvement with life.

4. The reason for the discard & war is the imbalance between man & nature.

5. Quiet introspection will establish a spiritual & physical union that is most desirable for the survival of the earth & of human beings.

Important Extracts

1. Read the extract given below and answer the question that follows:

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines
we would be all together
in a sudden strangeness.

Questions
Q1. Which moment is referred to here and how will it be?

Ans. it will be a moment of peace and introspection. It will be a strange and attractive moment that will bring us closer.

Q2. How would we feel at that moment?

Ans. We will realize a feeling of oneness.

Q3. How will it bring all of us together?

Ans. By keeping quiet and still, we all will feel alike as if we are together.

2. Read the extract given below and answer the question that follows:
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

Questions:
Q1. What is it that should not be confused with total inactivity?
Ans. It is the moment of silence that should not be confused with total inactivity.

Q2. What is life about?
Ans. Life is about actions and dynamism. It must go on. The efforts to keep the race alive cannot be suspended even for a day. Action is the essence of life.

Q3. Explain: “no truck with death”.
Ans. Total inactivity is a synonym of death and he has no association with death. This short silence is very much alive and preparation for renewed hectic activity.

3. Read the extract given below and answer the question that follows:
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

Questions:

Q1. In which wars are there no survivors?

Ans. There are no survivors in the wars of poisonous gases and the war of firearms.

Q2. Who would put on clean clothes?

Ans. The war-wagers would put on clean clothes.

Q3. What does ‘put on clean clothes’ signify?

Ans. ‘Put on clean clothes’ signifies the feelings of their mutual understanding.

4. Read the extract given below and answer the question that follows:

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving
and for once could do nothing
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Questions:

Q1. What will happen if we go on thinking single-minded?

Ans. In case we go on thinking single-minded, we will remain busy in worldly activities, thereby we won’t find time for self-introspection. It will be a sad situation.

Q2. How can we understand ourselves?

Ans. We can understand ourselves through self-introspection.

Q3. In what way can huge silence dispel sadness?
Ans. Huge silence will remove all our tension, violence and warfare. It will do away with all our sadness.

Q4. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?

Ans. The poet Pablo Neruda refers to ‘sadness’ which we form out of our own thinking and actions. We understand a lot of things but fail to understand ourselves and our actions and this becomes the creator of all disasters. This is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem

Q5. Why does the poet want us to ‘do nothing’ for once?
Ans. The poet wants to do nothing for once, here he specifies that we should cease all our activities in order to have introspection within ourselves so that we can realize the exotic moment.

Q7. How we can know ourselves?

Ans. We can know ourselves through introspection.

Q8. Identify ‘we’.

Ans. ‘We’ here refers to all human beings.

5. Read the extract given below and answer the question that follows:

Perhaps the Earth can teach us a
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

Questions:    
Q1. What does the earth teach us?
Ans. The earth teaches us how life springs from dead things. It further teaches us to realize life under stillness.

Q2. What does the poet mean to achieve by counting up to twelve?

Ans. He wants us to achieve peace by counting up to twelve.

Q3. What is the significance of ‘Keeping Quiet’?

Ans. ‘Keeping quiet’ means that we should avoid all those activities which hurt nature.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Why does the poet want us to keep quiet?



Ans. Keeping quiet will develop a better understanding of human beings and allow us to establish communion with our fellow beings at a spiritual level.

Q2. Does the poet advocate total inactivity and death by suggesting being quiet?
Ans. No, the poet does not advocate it. He wants no truck with death. In fact, he wants to live a life full bloodily. But by advocating quietness he wants to mix the physical and spiritual aspects of life.

Q3. Why does not the poet want us to speak in any language?
Ans. The poet wants us not to speak in any language to introspect and know what we are about- know the meaning of our existence. He wants everybody to know his spirit and have spiritual contact with others for sometimes for which no language is required.

Q4. What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us achieve?

Ans. Counting up to twelve and keeping quiet will assist us in attaining a state of peace in which we will be able to introspect and thus, see and appreciate the benefits of the symbiotic relationship that would exist between humans and between man and nature.

Q5. Do you think the poet advocates total inactivity and death?
Ans. The poet does not advocate total inactivity and death, but he does advise that we introspect deeply and not indulge in an activity that is mindless and thus potentially destructive for human beings and for the balance that should exist between man and nature.

Q6. What is the ‘sadness’ that the poet refers to in the poem?

Ans. Man fails to understand themselves. They are always threatening themselves with death. When they do not understand themselves, they become sad. Only silence might interrupt this sadness and make them happy.

Q7. What symbol from Nature does the poet invoke to say that there can be life under apparent stillness?

Ans. Life under apparent stillness can be seen in nature. During the winter season, the earth under the snow looks dead, with no activity and no growth. But when the spring comes, the snow melts away, the seeds sprout and the grass grows. All the activities of life start again.

Q8. According to the poet, what is that human beings can learn from nature?
Ans. Nature teaches us a lot of things. We must learn that all things are bound together and depend on each other for their survival. We should introspect ourselves by remaining calm and composed. So it teaches us to be quiet and still. It is no use to hinder others. We should grow and develop at our own Place. We must be contented with what we possess. There is no need for greed. Nature always remains alive.

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An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum By Stephen Spender

   An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum   

By Stephen Spender

About the author

Sir Stephen Harold Spender was born on February 28, 1909, in London. He attended Oxford University and fought in the Spanish Civil War. In the 1920s and 1930s, he associated with other poets and socialists, such as W.H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Louis MacNeice, and C. Day-Lewis, and his early poetry was often inspired by social protest. During World War II Spender was a member of the National Fire Service (1941–44). After the war, he made several visits to the United States, teaching and lecturing at universities, and in 1965 he became the first non-American to serve as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress (now the laureate consultant in poetry) a position he held for one year. In 1970 he was appointed the professor of English at University College, London; he became professor emeritus in 1977. He was knighted in 1983. Spender died on July 16, 1995.

Poem: An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.

Like rootless weeds, the hair was torn around their pallor.

The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-

seeming boy, with rat’s eyes. 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. His eyes live in a dream,

Of squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.

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. And yet, for these

Children, these windows, not this world, are the 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.

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, and 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.

All of their time and space are foggy slums.

So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Unless, governor, teacher, 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 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 is theirs whose language is the sun.

Meanings of Difficult Words & Phrases

Gusty waves = stormy waves of the sea.

Weeds = wild plants.

pallor = pale and withered.

Gnarled = twisted.

Unnoted = unnoticed.

Dome = a large rounded roof, a ceiling that is shaped like half of a ball.

Cape = a point or extension of land jutting out into the water as a peninsula or as a projecting point.

Cramped = very narrow.

Slyly = secretly.

Slag = refuge, unwanted material, dross.

Blot = abolish, destroy.

Doom = death, ruin, very bad event or situation that can not be avoided.

Catacomb = an underground place where people are buried.

Azure = the blue color of the clear sky.

Theme

In this poem, Stephen Spender deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. He presents the theme by talking of two different and incompatible worlds. The world of the rich and the civilized has nothing to do with the world of narrow lanes and cramped holes. The gap between these two worlds highlights social disparities and class inequalities.

Summary

Stephen Spender has presented a true picture of the life of the school children living in the slum of Tyrolese Valley of the Austrian Alpine Province. The children are in a very miserable condition due to their poverty and illiteracy. They are depressed. Their pale faces express sadness. They look lean, skinny and bonny. They are like rootless weeds that can’t resist anything for their existence. They are physically very weak and undernourished. Spender voices his concern for these children who live all their life in slums and have no opportunity to enjoy the real blessings of life. He makes a frantic appeal to the educated and affluent sections of the society to better a lot of the slum children through education. It will remove social injustice and class inequality.
Detailed Analysis of the Poem

Stanza – 1

The poem describes an elementary school classroom in a slum. These slum children look very pathetic. Their faces are pale and reflect sadness. They are ‘like rootless weeds’ as they lack proper nutrition. Moreover, they are unwanted plants that grow on their own without being cared for, totally neglected. The tall girl has a ‘weighed – down head’ as she is burdened with a load of poverty. In fact, she is so subdued and suppressed that her head had bowed down with the burden of her misfortunes. The ‘paper-thin’ – extremely thin boy has ‘rat’s eyes’ because the poor undernourished boy is deprived of all the basic amenities of life. He is timid like a rat and full of anxiety, he searches for food and security. This unfortunate boy suffers from malnutrition and his growth is also ‘stunted’ – not properly developed. He has also inherited from his father ‘twisted bones’ – bent and distorted bones. He has inherited poverty, disease, and despair from his parents. His body is also deformed because of the twisted bones which he has inherited. He appears to be as sick as his parents. There is a sweet tender looking student who sits at the back of the class. This boy is different from the others as ‘his eyes live’ in a dream – he is dreaming and probably thinking about a better future. He is lost in his own world, therefore, not sad like the others. This boy thinks of the ‘squirrel’s game’ (metaphor). He wants to enjoy and play freely like the squirrel in the garden outside. The squirrel climbs trees and hides in their holes. The boy also dreams to be free but he cannot as he must sit in the dull and dreary classroom. In the boy’s imagination ‘tree room’ – the hollow in a tree, is full of fun, curiosity, and mystery. This is in contrast to the gloomy classroom.

Stanza – 2

The classroom is not well maintained. The pale cream walls which were painted long ago with the help of donations, make the place look more miserable and sad. Probably there is a portrait of Shakespeare on the wall. This is ironic as it is put up in a place where there is no serious teaching. ‘Cloudless dawn’ and ‘civilized dome’ suggest the monotonous life in the slum. These slums are surrounded by the civilized city and the children cannot experience the beauty of the sky at dawn and are unaware of it. All around them are concrete structures of the cities. The life in the slum contrasts with the cloudless sky at dawn and concrete structures that override the cities. There is also a picture of a beautiful valley full of sweet fragrant flowers and these children of the slum will never be able to experience this beauty. They are deprived of this beauty as they are condemned to live in the slums amidst garbage. The ‘open-handed map’ in the classroom contrasts with their world. The world given to us by God is full of all the bounties whereas the world of these slum children is full of poverty and hunger. The world which they see is not the real world. Their world is confined to the narrow, dusty streets of the slum. The map in the classroom gives them hopes and aspirations and motivates them to explore the world but they will never be able to see that world. These children can get a glimpse of the outside world from the windows and it is far beyond their reach. They are far away from nature. These slum children have a bleak and foggy future in store for them. ‘Their future is painted with a fog’ – it is blurred by hopelessness. There is no hope for the slum children. Instead of the normally blue sky, they live under the ‘lead sky’ – dark and dull, polluted – shows there is no hope for them. The atmosphere hints at their monotonous life and the slum children remain confined throughout their lives confined to the filth and dirt of the narrow slum streets. They are away from the glory of the natural beauty of the rivers, mountains, stars, etc.

Stanza – 3

The children of the slum are fighting the battle of life unarmed. They are troubled by disease and despair. For them, Shakespeare is ‘wicked’ and ‘map’ a bad example’. The literary excellence of Shakespeare and the scenic beauty portrayed in the map cannot relieve them from their despair. For these slum children, literary excellence is a far-fetched thing and hence seems wicked. The map on the wall gives them false aspirations as it makes them aware of the beautiful world given by God. The world of these children is confined to the narrow streets of the slums. Therefore, the map is ‘a bad example’. They feel cheated in being deprived of the thrilling sensations of the sun, the ships, and the emotions of love. The ‘ship’, ‘sun’ and ‘love’ symbolize joy and happiness which these children are deprived of. Their only experience is that of hunger and poverty. To reach out to the world beyond, these children are sometimes tempted to adopt the wrong means even stealing to fulfill their dreams.

These slum children live in cramped holes, striving and struggling for survival in the small, dirty rooms from ‘fog to endless night’ – from foggy mornings till long endless nights, trying to meet both ends. The slum children live on ‘slag heaps’ – piles of waste material. Their world is full of dirt and garbage. These children are very weak and undernourished. They look like skeletons as their bones peep through their thin skin.

They wear ‘spectacles of steel with mended glass’ – discarded spectacles by the rich, mended (repaired) and worn. Their life is like ‘bottle bits on stones – shattered and broken like bits of a bottle on a stone. They are deprived of even the basic amenities of life. Their world is comprised of the foggy slums where they live nightmares. Slums are the reality for these children, their home, where they spend their life. The maps displayed in their classroom are no reality for them. They cannot locate their slum in that map. It is urgently required to give these slum inhabitants means and opportunities to lead a dignified and civilized life.

Stanza – 4

The elementary school in the slum exists for namesake. The infrastructure is poor with hardly any serious teaching. The school springs in activity only when a governor, a school inspector or a visitor comes on a round of the school. The administrative machinery of the school also gears up at that time. Then the map becomes their window from where they can see the world beyond their slums. Since they are confined to the slums, these sights and glimpses are shut upon them as they are deprived of all opportunities and means. Their lives are shut up in the cemeteries of these slums where they slither and slog to make both ends meet. The poet hopes that these children will break free from their morbid life, from the chains of the slums. He appeals to those in power to liberate these children from the miserable slums and enable them to breathe in the fresh, beautiful and healthy environment away from the foggy slums. They should be able to bask in the open green fields and let them run free on the golden sands. Their world should not be confined to the horrendous and gory slums. The poet visualizes freedom for these children. He wants a carefree life where they get economic and social justice, where they have the right to be happy. These slum children should be able to enjoy the fundamental right to education otherwise their lives will be miserable. They should be able to learn not from books alone but also from the world, the nature around them.

The poet ends on a note of positivity and wants opportunities to be available to these children. The people who strive for knowledge are the ones who create history. The ones who are let free are the ones who will create history. People who outshine others, who glow like the sun, who break free from the constraints of their restricted life are the ones who create history.

Important Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Describe the slum children mentioned in the poem?
Ans. The slum school children are ill-fed and undernourished.Their faces lack the spark of life. Their hair hang about their pale faces like rootless weeds. They look weak and tired. Some of these children have inherited their parent’s diseases. They lack vigor and vitality and show no interest in their lessons.

Q2. How does the poet describe the classroom walls?

Ans. The classroom walls have not been painted for years. They are off-white in color like sour cream. There is a portrait of Shakespeare and a map of the world hanging in the classroom. Besides, there are some pictures of some beautiful places. All these wall hangings look irrelevant and out of place in the dark and dismal surroundings.

Q3. Why does the poet Stephen Spender say that the pictures and maps are meaningless? /Why does Spender call Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example?
Ans. The pictures, portraits, and maps present a sharp contrast to the reality of slum children’s lives. These children live in dark cramped places devoid of beauty and sunshine. Shakespeare can not inspire noble thoughts into the minds of these children who have no basic necessities of life. These pictures and maps exhibit a world of opportunities that is so far away that the slum children cannot even dream of reaching out to them. This is why these pictures and maps are meaningless and a bad example.

Q4. What does the poet want for the children of slums? How can their lives be made to change?
Ans. The poet wants these children to get a real and meaningful education that would open up a world of opportunities for them. He wishes that these children ought to be brought out of their dark and dingy world. He wishes these children to come out and play into green fields and golden sands.

Important Extracts

(a) Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:
The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones, reciting a father’s

Gnarled disease, His lessons from his desk. At the back of the dim class

One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,

Of Squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.

Questions:

Q1. Who is the unlucky heir? Why is he called unlucky?
Ans. The thin slum boy is the unlucky heir. He is so-called because he has inherited poverty, despair, and disease from his parents.

Q2. Who sits back unnoted? Why?

Ans. A young boy sits at the back. This boy is different from the others as ‘his eyes live’ in a dream – he is dreaming and probably thinking about a better future. He is lost in his own world, therefore, not sad like the others. This boy thinks of the ‘squirrel’s game’. He wants to enjoy and play freely like the squirrel in the garden outside.

Q3. Pick two images each of despair and disease from these lines.
Ans. The images of despair are – ‘unlucky heir’, ‘dim class’, and that of diseases are – ‘twisted bones, gnarled disease’.



(b) Read the following extracts 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 narrow street sealed in with a lead sky

Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.

Questions:
Q1. Who are these children?
Ans. These are the slum children of Tyrol Valley.

Q2. What is their world like?

Ans. The school windows are their world because they cannot move beyond them.

Q3. What kind of future does the poet foresee for them?

Ans. The future of these children is quite dim. As we can’t see things in the fog, in the same way, the future of these children is looming under darkness. Their future is bleak.

Q4. Why does the poet say that the narrow street is sealed?

Ans. The narrow street is sealed as these provide no opportunity to make access to the outer world of wisdom.



(c) Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow:

Unless, governor, 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 white green leaves open

History is theirs whose language is the son.

Questions:

Q1. Who can improve a lot of the poor slum children?

Ans. The rulers, the educationists, the teachers, and the general public can pool their efforts to give a better life to the poor slum children.

Q2. What kind of life do they live in?

Ans. They are shut up in their dim classrooms and small hovels like dead bodies in the grave.

Q3. What is the poet’s appeal to the upper-class people?
Ans. The poet urges them to bring some light into the lives of the slum children. They may be imparted education in a healthy atmosphere.

Q4. What should they break?
Ans. They should break all barriers and obstructions that hinder the school children’s growth.

Q5. What kind of a world does the poet imagine for these children?
Ans. The poet imagines a world where these children run around in the fields or on sea beaches in a carefree manner. They should also enjoy the freedom of knowledge and expression.

Q6. What does the word ‘sun’ symbolize?
Ans. ‘Sun’ symbolizes light and brightness which, comes from education. Proper education alone can improve the lives of these slum children.

Q7. What is the poet’s advice?
Ans. The poet suggests that the slum children should not only be educated properly but also removed from their dirty surroundings to sunny and green fields.

Q8. Explain: “History is theirs whose language is the sun.”

Ans. The language that has warmth and power of the sun only can mold and write history.

Q9. What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to change?

Ans. The poet wants an improvement in the quality of the lives of the slum children. He feels that the government has a moral obligation to provide a meaningful education to these children and to break down the barriers that stand in the way of improving their lives.

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