NCERT Solutions For Class 12  English Flamingo Poetry– An Elementary School Classroom In a Slum

NCERT Solutions For Class 12  English Flamingo Poetry Chapter 2 – An Elementary School Classroom In a Slum, we have covered all the chapter questions. This solution will prove beneficial for students who are preparing for the board and other competitive examinations along with the board exam.All the concepts of programming have been made quite accurate and authentic in this whole solution which will help you to make notes and also increase your interest in financial. Class 12 English Solution Notes is based on the CBSE Class 12 syllabus, which will also prove useful in the board exams and competitive exams.

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NCERT Solutions For Class 12  English Flamingo Poetry Chapter 2 – An Elementary School Classroom In a Slum

All the English solutions Class 12 have been prepared by our top subject experts who are completely authentic. All PDF solutions provided by  www.studyit.in and we have solved all types of questions 1 mark, short questions and long questions and provide the solutions given below.

Extract Based Questions

I. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head.

Question 1:
Who are these children?
Answer:
These children are the poor children who live in the slum.

Question 2:
What does the poet mean by ‘gusty waves’?
Answer:
By ‘gusty waves’ the poet means the beautiful sights of nature which are not visible in the slum.

Question 3:
What has possibly weighed down the tall girl’s head?
Answer:
The tall girl’s head has possibly been weighed down by being burdened with sad thoughts about her misfortune, which is making her feel depressed.

Question 4:
Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
Answer:
Simile is used in these lines when the unkempt hair is compared to rootless weeds.

II. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“The stunted unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease,
His lesson, from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream,
Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.”

Question 1:
Who is the unlucky heir?
Answer:
The boy who has a stunted growth with twisted bones, sitting in the slum school classroom, is the ‘unlucky heir’.

Question 2:
What has he inherited?
Answer:
He has inherited the arthritis of his father; as a result his growth remains stunted.

Question 3:
Who is sitting at the back of the dim class?
Answer:
A sweet young boy is sitting at the back of the dim class. He is daydreaming of squirrels playing in a tree.

Question 4:
What quality of the unlucky heir is depicted in the stanza?
Answer:
The unlucky heir is depicted with twisted bones which he has inherited from his father, who suffers from arthritis.

III. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young.
His eyes live in a dream, Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.

Question 1:
Why is the class dim?
Answer:
‘Class’ refers to the classroom which is dark and dingy, as it is in a slum school, where nobody cares for the lighting. ‘Dim’ is also used to denote the future of these children in the class.

Question 2:
Why is the child called ‘sweet and young?
Answer:
The child is called ‘sweet and young’ probably because he is an innocent child who is not concerned with what is going on in the classroom. Instead, he is daydreaming.

Question 3:
What does the child want to enjoy?
Answer:
The child wants to enjoy seeing squirrels playing in the tree outside the classroom.

Question 4:
What is the significance of the phrase, ‘other than this?
Answer:
‘This’ refers to the classroom, which does not interest the boy. He wants to go elsewhere, particularly outside, where the squirrels are playing in the tree.

IV. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world.”

Question 1:
What is the colour of the walls?
Answer:
The colour of the walls is pale yellow, like sour cream.

Question 2:
What has been put up on the walls and why?
Answer:
Various donated items have been put up on the walls of the classroom as the school cannot afford to buy them. These include a portrait of Shakespeare, a picture of the beautiful Tyrolese valley and a world map.

Question 3:
Explain ‘Awarding the world its world’.
Answer:
The map with its scaled representation divides the world into countries, big and small. It forms the world with boundaries as we know it, thus awarding the world its world in a miniature form.

V. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future is painted with fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.”

Question 1:
Who are the ‘children’ referred to here?
Answer:
The ‘children’ referred to here are the poor children living in the slum.

Question 2:
Which is their world?
Answer:
Their world is the dull and unpleasant classroom and its windows amongst the dirty surroundings of the slum. ‘

Question 3:
How is their life different from that of other children?
Answer:
The children of the slum are emaciated and poverty-stricken, as against the other children who are healthy and have all the comforts and luxuries of life. The life of the slum children is filled with darkness and hopelessness.

Question 4:
Why is the future of these children ‘painted with a fog?
Answer:
The future of these children is dark and uncertain, meaning that it cannot be seen. So, the poet says that it is ‘painted with a fog.’

VI. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal—
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?”

Question 1:
Who are them’referred to in the first line?
Answer:
Them here refers to the poor, emaciated children of the slum.

Question 2:
What tempts them?
Answer:
They are tempted by all the beautiful things of the world, the luxuries and the lifestyle that the rich enjoy. They are tempted to steal them, as they cannot possess these otherwise.

Question 3:
What does the poet say about ‘their’ lives?
Answer:
The children of the slum live amidst dirty surroundings in cramped houses which are dark and unpleasant. The poet is not happy with the way these children are compelled to live.

Question 4:
What do you understand by from fog to endless night?
Answer:
‘From fog to endless night’ means from morning till night. The poor children of the slum have a miserable existence; they suffer from morning to night everyday.

VII. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.

Question 1:
Who are these children?
Answer:
These children are the poor children who live in the slum.

Question 2:
What is their slag heap?
Answer:
Their slag heap refers to the hunger-stricken bodies of the children, which look just like heaps of garbage.

Question 3:
Why are their bones peeping through their skins?
Answer:
Their bones are visible under their skins because they are malnourished and very thin.

Question 4:
What does ‘with mended glass’ mean?
Answer:
The phrase,’with mended glass’ means that the glass of the spectacles had cracked and the pieces had been stuck together, instead of getting a new glass. This is another sign of their poverty.

VIII. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.”

Question 1:
What is meant by ‘Break 0 break?
Answer:
The poet wants to bring these children out of their filthy surroundings. He wants them to break the shackles that this slum has put on them, so that they can see the outside world.

Question 2:
Who are they?
Answer:
‘They’ refers to the poor, emaciated children of the slum.

Question 3:
What does the poet want for them?
Answer:
The poet wants that these children should be properly educated, because, according to him, history is written by those whose language has the energy and warmth of the sun.

Question 4:
Explain ’till they break the town’.
Answer:
The poet wishes the children to break the shackles of the slum so that they can come out of their dirty surroundings into an open area of freedom.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1:
What change does the poet hope for in the lives of the slum children?
Answer:
Stephen Spender wants a better life for the children of the slums. He wants the officials to help these
poor children come out of their miserable surroundings. He wishes that these children should be given education, because education is the key to prosperity.

Question 2:
To whom does the poet in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ make an appeal?
What is his appeal?
Answer:
The poet makes an appeal to his readers, especially the educated and well-off people, to help the poor children of the slum come out and be freed from their miserable surroundings. His appeal is that these children should be given quality education, because education holds the key to their emancipation.

Question 3:
Which words/phrases in the poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition?
Answer:
The words or phrases in the poem which show that the slum children are suffering from acute malnutrition are, ‘the hair tom round their pallor’, ‘paper-seeming boy’, ‘stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones’ and ‘wear skins peeped through by bones.’

Question 4:
What message does Stephen Spender convey through the poem, An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum?
Answer:
The poet wants freedom from a life of hunger and misery for the poor children. He wishes that the children should be provided with quality education. They should be brought out from their filthy surroundings into the comforting lap of nature.

Question 5:
How does the poet describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The classroom walls are pale yellow and dirty. Donated items have been put up on these walls. All these are in complete contrast to the world of these children.

Question 6:
Why does Stephen Spender say that the pictures and maps in the elementary school classroom are not meaningful?
Answer:
The pictures that have been put up on the classroom walls depict the civilised world. The portrait of Shakespeare is useless to the slum children because they will never read his works. The world shown in the map is not their world. Their world is confined to the walls of their classroom and the slum in which they live. Thus they are not meaningful.

Question 7:
Have you ever visited or seen an elementary school in a slum? What does it look like?
Answer:
Yes, I have visited such a school; it was a government school. It was in a pitiful state. It did not have
even the basic amenities like properly working fans and lights. Broken windows, damaged doors, broken benches and dirty walls greeted the students. Many of the teachers did not conduct the classes regularly. Even the washrooms were dirty and without any water.

Question 8:
What do you think is the colour of sour cream? Why do you think the poet has used this expression to describe the classroom walls?
Answer:
The colour of sour cream is pale yellow. The poet has used this expression to show the poor and grim environment of the classroom. Instead of bringing cheer to the unhappy existence of the children, these walls add to their misery and dreariness.

Question 9:
The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of’Shakespeare’, ‘buildings with domes’, ‘world maps’and ‘beautiful valleys’. How do these contrast with the world of these children?
Answer:
‘Shakespeare’ symbolises the study of literature, ‘buildings and domes’ symbolise power and wealth, the world maps represent the world outside and ‘beautiful valleys’ refer to nature’s beauty and bounty. All these stand in sharp contrast to the dingy, dismal and gloomy atmosphere in which these slum children live.

Question 10:
What does the poet want for the children of the slums? How can their lives be made to chbnge?
Answer:
The poet keenly desires these children to break the bonds of living a life of despair in the slum. They should not remain dejected, depressed and isolated from the rest of the world. Their lives can be made to change by the officials, who should come forward to educate the children properly, giving them opportunities to experience the outside world through a better education.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1:
Bring out the significance of the sense of dejection and despair in the poem, ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum.’
Answer:
The poet vents his dejection and despair in the numbing poverty of the life of the slum children in the poem. These children are ‘rootless’ as they lack stability in their lives. They are insecure and ill-fed, living a miserable life of pain and despair. The sour cream colour of their school walls reflects the despondent look of these students.
They lack the usual exuberance of life. They suffer the agony of being unwanted in their small world of the slums Their world is far removed from the outer world that is represented in school books, maps, picture of a Tyrolese valley and of Shakespeare. Education has shown them the path of liberation but they are ironically caught in a situation where their education only makes them aware of their miserly existence.

Question 2:
Why do you think Shakespeare is ‘wicked’ and the map ‘a bad example’ to these children?
Answer:
The study and the portrait of Shakespeare is wicked because these children fail to understand the true value of Shakespeare in English literature, as no quality education is imparted in this elementary school classroom in a slum. This school is different from other normal schools, where the study of Shakespeare is conducted properly, giving the children a constructive education.
The map of the world with its colourful projections of the earth is also a bad example to these slum children because they imagine the world from the maps and understand the fact that their world is different from that of the maps. Their future is dark and they live in a perpetual state of gloom, hunger and despair.

Question 3:
Analyse the poetic devices used in the poem.
Answer:
The poet has aptly used the imagery of despair and disease in the first stanza. The poet has employed a simile in the explicit comparison between the children’s faces and the rootless weeds, as these children are like weeds without any root or proper origin.
The description of the dim and pathetic classroom with its ‘sour cream’ walls is rich in visual imagery of colours. The walls that have turned yellowish suggests the pale existence of these children. The phrase ‘Break O Break’ consists of repetition to poetically emphasise the need of these children to come out into the outer world. There is rich colourful imagery in the line “Run azure on gold sands” which brings out the note of optimism and emancipation for these children to visualise the azure blue sky, the golden sands on the beaches and the deserts on the earth.

Value Based Question

Question 1:
Bring out the irony In the system of, education of the slum children with reference to the poem.
Answer:
The poem ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities in our society, the irony that is rooted in the marginalised existence of these slum children and their poor system of education.
The poet has reflected this irony in saying that these children, as they read, run their tongues naked into the books because they do not understand the meaning of the words and blankly utter the sentences. They fail to understand the true message of education contained in the books. Their spectacles are like ‘bottle bits’ suggesting the poverty of their lives. It is a poetic appeal to the people in authority, like the governor, inspector and visitor, to rescue these oppressed children from their limited lives of ignorance and gloom. The poet wishes for the emancipation of these imprisoned minds into a new world of freedom and happiness.

Miscellaneous Question

Question 1:
Tick the item which best answers the following.

1. ‘The tall girl with her head weighed-down’ means the girl
   (a) is ill and exhausted.
   (b) has her head bent with shame,
   (c) has untidy hair.
2. The paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes’ means the boy is
   (a) thin, hungry and weak,
   (b) sly and secretive.
   (c) unpleasant looking.
3. The stunted unlucky heir of twisted bones’ means the boy ‘
   (a) has an inherited disability.
   (b) was short and bony.
4. ‘His eyes live in a dream. A squirrel’s game, in the tree room other than this’ means the boy is
   (a) full of hope in the future,
   (b) mentally ill.
   (c) distracted from the lesson.
5. The children’s faces are compared to ‘rootless weeds’. This means they
   (a) are insecure.
   (b) are ill-fed.
   (c) are wasters.

Answer:

1. (a) is ill and exhausted.
2. (a) thin, hungry and weak.
3. (a) has an inherited disability.
4. (c) distracted from the lesson.
5. (a) are insecure.

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NCERT English for Class 12 Solutions