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Ch 10 · Flamingo Poetry · Stephen Spender

An Elementary School Classroom in a
Slum

20 MCQs NCERT Class 12 Updated May 2026
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Chapter Overview

Spender visits a slum school and finds children with gnarled, stunted faces — far from the gusty waves and sun of natural childhood. The classroom walls bear donated images of Shakespeare, Tyrolese valleys, classical domes — symbols of a world the children will never enter. The poem ends with a moral plea to those in power: break these walls, show them the sun, let them create their own language.

Key Themes
Key Concepts
Children's faces
'Gnarled' / 'rootless weeds' / paper-seeming boy with rat's eyes
Donated decor
Shakespeare's head, Tyrolese valley, civilised dome
Squirrel's game
The dreaming boy's mental escape
Lead sky
Heavy oppressive atmosphere over slum
Final plea
Governors break walls — children see sun, books, become makers of history
Sample MCQs
Q1. What 'donations' decorate the classroom walls?
A. Photos of charity benefactors, Shakespeare's head, a Tyrolese valley map, paintings of dawn
B. Photos of the children's parents at factories
C. Posters of British Prime Ministers
D. Banners of school exam results
Spender uses the irony — Shakespeare, Tyrolese valley, classical domes adorning a slum classroom whose children will never see any of them.
Q2. Whom does the poet appeal to in the final stanza?
A. The parents of the slum children
B. The teacher of the elementary classroom
C. The governors, inspectors, visitors — those in social and political power
D. The children themselves
The final stanza is a moral plea to the powerful — break the slum walls, show the children sun and sky, let them create their own language.