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READ THIS
The poet writes about an incident from his childhood when he was continually confronted with lower class
boys whom his parents disliked and warned him to avoid.
Despite their warnings, however, the boy found himself admiring and possibly even envying certain
elements of their life although he was also afraid of their rough, bullying ways.
ABOUT THE POET
Spender was born in London in 1909. His parents were both literary people, his father being a journalist
while his mother was a painter and a poet.
Theirs was middle class society and typically for those days, they tended to despise the ways of the
working class. His parents' attitude would naturally influence the poet as a young boy -- hence the theme
of this poem.
The poet initially attended Oxford University but did not finish his degree. Indeed, he was very proud of
the fact that he had never ever passed an exam in his whole life.
While he was at Oxford, however, he fell under the influence of the poet W. H. Auden with whom he
did some major collaboration. Later he would also pal up with both Louis MacNeice and Cecil
Day-Lewis, as well has many other rising English poets.
Instead of finishing his degree, Spender spent time in Germany where he studied some of the German
poets.
Germany during the 1920s was a hotbed of socialism and Spender became caught up in this political
movement -- becoming for a time an ardent admirer of communism itself.
The world in which he lived, however, quickly came to be dominated by a struggle between fascism and
communism, and Spender became involved in this clash of ideals. Indeed, he even launched himself into
the Spanish Civil War where he opposed the fascist dictator, General Franco.
Despite his lack of a degree, Spender's proven poetic track record allowed him to teach at various
American universities. In 1965 he was appointed "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry" to the
United States Library of Congress.
He would eventually return to England, however, where he took up a post as Professor of Rhetoric at
Gresham College and, later, Professor of English at the University College in London.
As early as 1962, Spender was awarded a C.B.E. and was knighted in 1983. He died in 1995 at the age
of 86.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"My parents kept me from children who were rough
and who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes."
- What is the meaning of the word "rough" within the context of this poem? (2)
[Need help?]
"Rough" in the context of this poem means "uncouth" or "of a low class" or
"common". They're the type of children the poet's parents didn't want him to mix with because
of their poor background and questionable moral standards.
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- What does the poet mean when he says that his parents "kept" him from children who
were rough? (4)
[Need help?]
Essentially, the poet's parents asked their son not to play with these children. They couldn't prevent him
from seeing them or even coming into contact with them because he had to see or meet them on the way
to school.
The parents simply asked him not to associate with them, something which the poet-child could have
ignored if he so desired.
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- Explain the reference to the children throwing words "like stones". (4)
[Need help?]
There's an old English expression, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt
me!"
The poet has this expression in mind when he says that the children were "throwing words like
stones". Does it mean, however, that their words were in fact hurting him?
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- What figure of speech or language device is the expression "like stones". In what way can
words be "like stones"? (3)
[Need help?]
"Like stones" is a simile. Words can be "like stones" in that they can be
metaphorically hurled at the child, and can possibly hurt him mentally.
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"They ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams."
- Does the poet admire or despise these children? How do you know? (4)
[Need help?]
Although the poet as a child was frightened of these children because they teased him and sometimes
hurt him, there were nevertheless things about them that he appeared to admire.
He seems to have admired their freedom. While he had to go to school, for instance, they appeared to
be free to run about in the streets, playing. They also had the freedom to climb cliffs and splash around
in country streams, something that the child was not allowed to do.
There are indications that he would have loved to join them and play with them. He attempts to smile at
them. They never return his smile but, if they had done, would he then be tempted to play with them
despite his parents' cautions against doing so?
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- The poet's parents clearly despise these children for their actions. Why would they do
so? (4)
[Need help?]
The parents are middle class while the children are working class. The parents therefore apparently see
all their actions as being working class actions: running about in the streets, climbing cliffs, playing in the
streams.
It is possible that the children don't go to school. The parents would definitely frown on that. But they
appear to see that every action of the children is something to be avoided, something that is working class.
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- What figure of speech or language device is "climbed cliffs"? What is the purpose of using this
language devise? (3)
[Need help?]
"Climbed cliffs" is an example of alliteration, the repetition of the same consonant sound.
It is used to create a lyrical or poetic affect in the words. In this case, the repetition of the "c" sound
gives a light feeling to the words, a lightness that is needed to move upward on the cliff face.
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"I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron
And their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms."
- What language device is used in the words, "I feared more than tigers their muscles"? What
is being compared to what? (3)
[Need help?]
This is another example of a simile.
One is usually taught that a simile can be spotted by the words "as" or "like": "he was
as fat as a pig in paradise" or "she was like a tub of lard".
The word "than" also introduces a simile. "The puff adder was fatter than a bag of pus".
To "fear more than tigers" is therefore a simile, comparing his fear for the children to a fear for
tigers.
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- What difference is shown between the boy and the children when he speaks of "their muscles like
iron"? (2)
[Need help?]
I would imagine that the small boy was fairly weak, quite puny -- possibly even a wuss.
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- What are the children doing that the poet should speak of "their jerking hands and their knees tight
on my arms"? (4)
[Need help?]
Perhaps the children are jerking the boy around, or maybe tugging at his clothing. It would seem that, at
one stage, they have pulled the child to the ground and are kneeling on his arms so as to hold him down.
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