
NCERT Solution: An Elementary School Classroom – Class 12 by Stephen Spender throws light on the grim realities of life in a slum. The poem focuses on the conditions of children who attend a dilapidated school, where the contrast between their dreams and their harsh surroundings is stark. It paints a bleak picture but urges us to think about change.
Key Takeaways:
- Theme: The divide between rich and poor, and the lack of opportunities for the underprivileged.
- Tone: Somber, thought-provoking, and a little bit angry (in the most poetic way possible!).
- Poetic Devices: Spender uses symbolism to show the contrast between the children’s dirty environment and their innocent hopes. Phrases like “their voices” and “their lives” are highly symbolic.
The poem makes us question society’s role in keeping the rich-poor divide alive. The children, despite their impoverished circumstances, still dream of a better life. But, these dreams seem as distant as the “distant clouds.” The slum serves as a metaphor for the larger social issue of inequality. 🏚️
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English
Prose Chapters (Flamingo) 📚
- The Last Lesson
- Lost Spring
- Deep Water
- The Rattrap
- Indigo
- Poets and Pancakes
- The Interview
- Going Places
Poetry Chapters (Flamingo) 🎤
- My Mother at Sixty-Six
- An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
- Keeping Quiet
- A Thing of Beauty
- A Roadside Stand
- Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas 📖
- The Third Level
- The Tiger King
- Journey to the End of the Earth
- The Enemy
- Should Wizard Hit Mommy?
- On the Face of It
- Evans Tries an O-level
- Memories of Childhood