An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum ( हिंदी)
By- Stephen Spender |
| Stephen Spender |
Sir Stephen Harold Spender was born on February 28, 1909, in London. He attended Oxford University and fought in the Spanish Civil War. In the 1920s and 1930s he associated with other poets and socialists, such as W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Louis MacNeice, and C. Day Lewis, and his early poetry was often inspired by social protest. During World War II, Spender worked for the London fire service. He co founded Horizon magazine with Cyril Connolly and served as its editor from 1939 to 1941. He was editor of Encounter magazine from 1953 to 1966
Stephen Spender was leading advocate of social injustice and class struggle. Then theme of socialism prevails in his work.
Spender's books of poetry include Twenty Poems (1930), Vienna (1934), The Still Centre (1939), Poems of Dedication (1946), and The Generous Days (1971). Spender was professor of English at University College, London, from 1970 to 1977, and gave frequent lecture tours in the United States He was knighted in 1983. S Spender died on July 16, 1995.
An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
 |
| Elementary school |
1. 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. The paper-seeming boy, with rat's eyes. 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.
Explanation - Children's faces are very far from energy and enthusiasm. They seem very gloomy. There is no hope or aspiration on their faces. This faces are covered with untidy and rough hair. Their hair are like a grass which is uprooted. ( Actually it is symbolical. They just like unwanted grass which grows anywhere and everywhere. It seems the world doesn't need them. Their life seems useless for the world.) There is a tall girl in the class whose head is bent as she is very weak. It seems that she is not even able to hold her head high because of her weakness. There is a very thin boy in the class too who seems as thin as paper. He suffers from malnutrition and hunger. He has big and bulged eyes like that of a rat. Another student in the class is reciting lesson in his desk. He is suffering from a disease of twisted bones - bones not formed properly and out of shape. It seems that he has inherited this disease from his father. He is reciting his father's 'gnarled disease' - a disease of twisted bones, not his lesson it seems. There is one sweet young unnoticed boy who is sitting at the back bench of the class. His hopes and aspirations have not yet lost and he is full of dreams. He dreams of a squirrel game which she plays at tree house. He also dreams that kind of tree house which is very different from this classroom.
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Explanation in Hindi: an elementary school classroom in a slum
बच्चों के चेहरों पर कोई ऊर्जा या उत्साह दिखाई नही देता है । उनके चेहरों पर उदासी छाई है, कोई उम्मीद दिखाई नहीं पड़ती। उनके चेहरों पर बिखरे हुए बाल है जो किसी उखाड़ी हुई घास की तरह प्रतीत होते हैं क्योंकि ये गन्दे हैं और इन्हें संवारा नही गया है । ( जिस तरह बेकार घास कहीं भी उग जाती है और उसका कोई महत्व नहीं होता , वैसे ही ये बच्चे भी किसी महत्व के प्रतीत नही होते है। ) इस कक्षा में एक लंबी लड़की है। लेकिन उसका सिर झुका हुआ है । ऐसा प्रतीत होता है जैसे वह अपने सिर का भार भी नही उठा सकती। एक छोटा सा बच्चा अपने डेस्क पर पाठ दोहरा रहा है । उसके शरीर की हड्डियां टेड़ी मेड़ी है। उसे गाँठ का रोग है। उसे देख कर लगता है कि जैसे वो अपना पाठ नही बल्कि अपने पिता से मिले हुए रोग को दोहरा रहा हो । एक और दुबला पतला बच्चा है जिसकी तुलना कागज से की गई है । उसकी आंखें चूहे की आंखों के समान बताई गई है जो कुपोषण के कारण बाहर उभरी हुई है।इसी कक्षा में सबसे पीछे एक और छोटा सा बच्चा बैठा है जो सपनों और उत्साह से भरा हुआ है। उसमें अभी निराशा नही भरी है। वह गिलहरी के खेल के बारे में सोच रहा है जिन्हें वह अपने पेड़ पर बने घर मे खेलती है उसका घर इस क्लासरूम से बिल्कुल भिन्न है।
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2. On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare's head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Explanation:
In this stanza, post describes the miserable condition of classroom. The walls are so dirty that they looked and smelled like a sour cream. There are some pictures and paintings on the walls supposedly donated by people.
These donations include Shakespeare's picture, picture of cloudless dawn, pictures showing tall concrete buildings in the city including church buildings, pictures of Tyrolese valley with different flowers blooming in it, a large map of the world. Yet for these children studying in this classroom, windows of this classroom are their world. They have no idea about the world which is shown in the map. Their future is full of uncertainty and darkness. They have no hope of getting out this foggy and dirty slum. Their life is passing in dirty and unhealthy environment where they live. There is no open space where they can clearly see the open sky.
They live in narrow streets from where they see only narrow part of dull and gray sky because of pollution prevailed there. That is why they are very far from capes, beautiful rivers and the world shown in the map. They only can dream of that world, not see or feel it. Their world is quite different from that of which was promised to them.
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Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities.
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this map, their world,
Where all their future's painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Explanation:
In this stanza, post describes the miserable condition of classroom. The walls are so dirty that they looked and smelled like a sour cream. There are some pictures and paintings on the walls supposedly donated by people.
 |
| Tyrolese valley |
These donations include Shakespeare's picture, picture of cloudless dawn, pictures showing tall concrete buildings in the city including church buildings, pictures of Tyrolese valley with different flowers blooming in it, a large map of the world. Yet for these children studying in this classroom, windows of this classroom are their world. They have no idea about the world which is shown in the map. Their future is full of uncertainty and darkness. They have no hope of getting out this foggy and dirty slum. Their life is passing in dirty and unhealthy environment where they live. There is no open space where they can clearly see the open sky.
 |
| Window Showing limited sky |
They live in narrow streets from where they see only narrow part of dull and gray sky because of pollution prevailed there. That is why they are very far from capes, beautiful rivers and the world shown in the map. They only can dream of that world, not see or feel it. Their world is quite different from that of which was promised to them.
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an elementary school classroom in a slum
कवि यहाँ कलास रूम की दीवारों का वर्णन कर रहा है । दिवारों का रंग और गन्द वासी क्रीम की तरह है। क्योंकि इन दीवारों पर कभी सफेदी नही की गई है। इन दीवारों पर दान में दी गयी कुछ चीज़ें लटकाई गयी हैं जिनके शेक्सपियर का फोटो, बादलों से रहित आकाश व शहर में बनी ऊंची इमारतों का चित्र लगाए गए है । tyrolese वैली का चित्र भी है जिसमे कई प्रकार के फूल खिले हुए है । इसके अलावा एक बड़ा विश्व का मानचित्र भी है, लेकिन बच्चों के लिए ये खिड़कियां ही इनका विश्व है न कि वो संसार जो इस मैप में दिखाया गया है । उनका भविष्य अनिश्चितता और निराशा से भरा हुआ है। इन्हें अपनी तंग गली से धुंधला सा ही आसमान दिखता है। वे उस संसार का केवल स्वप्न ही देख सकते है जिस संसार का उन से वादा किया जाता है।
3 Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example.
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal —
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Explanation :
Poet says it is useless to show these children the photo of Shakespeare and tell them about his literary achievements. The map is a bad example for them as they don't know that world. They are confined to this foggy slum and can't live in this world. Ships, sun and love is also a bad example for them as they could steal things to get or go to such places. As their lives are passing in very small houses which almost look like catacombs - burial chambers or cramped holes - very narrow places. There day starts foggy and ends as an endless night. They live on heaps of garbage and waste. They are too weak that their skeleton seemed peeping through skin. The also wear spectacle which are discarded by the rich. They are as mended as bits of a bottle lying on a stone. Their time passes in this dirty polluted slum which remains foggy all the time and they can move only in that slum alone . So there map should be blotted with as high and big as other buildings of the city .
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With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal —
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Explanation :
Poet says it is useless to show these children the photo of Shakespeare and tell them about his literary achievements. The map is a bad example for them as they don't know that world. They are confined to this foggy slum and can't live in this world. Ships, sun and love is also a bad example for them as they could steal things to get or go to such places. As their lives are passing in very small houses which almost look like catacombs - burial chambers or cramped holes - very narrow places. There day starts foggy and ends as an endless night. They live on heaps of garbage and waste. They are too weak that their skeleton seemed peeping through skin. The also wear spectacle which are discarded by the rich. They are as mended as bits of a bottle lying on a stone. Their time passes in this dirty polluted slum which remains foggy all the time and they can move only in that slum alone . So there map should be blotted with as high and big as other buildings of the city .
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Explanation in Hindi: an elementary school classroom in a slum
इन बच्चों को शेक्सपियर की साहित्यिक उपलब्धि से कोई सरोकार नही है , इसलिए इन्हें उसका चित्र दिखाना व्यर्थ है । इन्हें विश्व का मानचित्र दिखाना भी व्यर्थ है । इनका संसार कूड़े के ढेर तक ही सीमित है। इस संसार के ships , sun और love जैसी चीजें इन्हें भटकाने जैसा है , वे ऐसा जीवन जीने के लिए चोरी इत्यादि का सहारा भी ले सकते है । ये अमीर लोगों द्वारा फेंके हुए चश्मे पहनते है जो पथर पर पड़े हुए टूटी बोतल टुकड़े के समान प्रतीत होते है । ये बच्चे कब्रिस्तान जैसे तंग झोपड़ियों में रहते है। इनका दिन धुंध में आरंभ होकर कभी खत्म न होने वाली रात में बदल जाता है । इसलिए इनके मानचित्र को ऊँचे ऊँचे कूड़े के ढेर से प्रिंट करना चाहिए।
4.Unless, governor, inspector, visitor,
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
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.
Explanation:
It seems that teachers don't care to teach them properly and tell them the real meaning of that map and other things. Unless any higher authorities like governor, inspector or any visitor would visit school, these windows remain their world, not that is hung on the walls.
These windows look like catacombs - burial chambers from where they peep through. Now poet suggests that these barriers should be broken to bring them out of this slum otherwise they will be ruined and they will ruin the city as well. They should be brought to the open plains and should let them run bare feet on the golden sand on beaches. They should be given the opportunity to study the history of those legends whose history is printed on white and green pages.
Only those can make history who have got the opportunity .
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This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
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.
Explanation:
It seems that teachers don't care to teach them properly and tell them the real meaning of that map and other things. Unless any higher authorities like governor, inspector or any visitor would visit school, these windows remain their world, not that is hung on the walls.
 |
| Window inside |
Only those can make history who have got the opportunity .
Read Also: कहीं आपके बच्चे नशा तो नही करते?
Explanation in Hindi : an elementary school classroom in a slum
जब तक गवर्नर , इंस्पेक्टर और विजिटर स्कूल का दौरा नही करता तब तक ये मानचित्र नहीं बल्कि इस कक्षा की खिड़कियां ही इन का संसार है। अध्यापक भी शायद इन्हें पढ़ाने की परवाह नही करते । ये खिड़कियाँ क़ब्र के तहखानों की तरह प्रतीत होती हैं। इसलिए इन खिड़कियों को तोड़ इन बच्चों को बाहर निकलना चाहिए। इन्हें खुले आसमान के नीचे और खुले मैदानों में ले जाना चाहिए। इससे पहले की ये बर्बाद हो जाएं या शहर को बर्बाद कर दे, इन्हें उचित अवसर प्रदान करना चाहिए।Read Also: Status Of Education In India
NEW WORDS IN THE POEM : an elementary school classroom in a slum
Gusty - (झोंकेदार) here, full of energy, vigor
Weeds - (घास पात) unwanted plants
Pallor - (पीलापन) unhealthy, pale appearance
Stunted - (अविकसित) underdeveloped
Heir - (उत्तराधिकारी) one who gets the property of a person upon his death
Gnarled - (गांठदार, मुड़ा हुआ) beaten appearance
Tyrolese valley - a beautiful valley in the Australian mountains
Capes - (अन्तरीप) a strip of land
Wicked - (दुष्ट व्यक्ति) mischievous or tricky
Slyly - (चालाकी से) cunning
Slag - ( गंदगी) worthless, useless
Mended - (मुरम्मत किया) to make something useable by repairing it
Blot - (धब्बा) a weak point, blemish
Doom - (बर्बाद होना) a disaster.
Catacombs - (कब्रों का तहखाना) an underground place used to bury dead people
. azure - (आसमानी रंग) a bright, blue colour
. azure - (आसमानी रंग) a bright, blue colour
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