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.

Central Idea

Stephen Spender has presented a true picture of the life of the

school children living in the slum of Tyrolese Valley of 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 which can’t resist anything for
their existence. They are physically very weak and under
nourished. 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 the 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 class room 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 which
grow on their own without being cared for, totally neglected.
The tall girl has a ‘weighed – down head’ as she is burdened
with the 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 the
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 boys 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 ironical 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 which 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 the 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 normal 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 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, 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 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
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 name sake. 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 of education otherwise their
lives will be miserable. They should be able to learn not from
the 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 and that of diseases are ‘twisted bones,