Flamingo An Elementary School - Test Papers

 CBSE TEST PAPER - 01

Class - 12 English Core (An elementary school classroom in a slum)

General Instruction:

  • Question No. 1 to 3 carry 4 marks.
  • Question No. 4 to 10 carry 3 marks.
  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
    1. Who are these children?
    2. What does the poet mean by ‘gusty waves’?
    3. What has possibly 'weighed-down' the tall girl’s head?
    4. Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
  2. 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
    1. Name the poet.
    2. Why was the class dim?
    3. Who was sitting at the back of the dim class?
    4. What was he dreaming about?
  3. 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.
    1. What is the condition of the classroom walls?
    2. What aspects show a civilized race?
    3. What is the specialty of Tyrolese valley?
    4. Explain ‘Awarding the world its world’.
  4. What is the message that Stephen Spender wants to give through this poem?
  5. How does the map on the wall tempt the slum children?
  6. What does Stephen Spender want to be done for the children of the school in a slum?
  7. How is Shakespeare wicked and the map a bad example for the children of the school in a slum?
  8. Stephen Spender in his poem, An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum, paints a dismal picture of poverty. Comment.
  9. How do the pictures and map on the wall contrast with the world the slum children live in?
  10. What does the poet appeal through this poem? To whom does he appeal?

CBSE TEST PAPER - 01
Class - 12 English Core (An elementary school classroom in a slum)
Answers

    1. These children are the children of an elementary school classroom in a slum.
    2. The phrase ‘gusty waves ‘means the mainstream society or better living conditions.
    3. The burden of misfortunes and harsh realities of the world of slums have 'weighed-down' her head and depressed her.
    4. The figures of speech used here are: simile (like rootless weeds), Alliteration (far,far,from), Metaphor (gusty waves).
    1. The name of the poet is Stephen Spender.
    2. It was a class in the slum and was not well lighted.
    3. A young, sweet boy was sitting at the back of the dim class who was unnoticed by others.
    4. He was dreaming of squirrel’s games.
    1. The classroom walls are unpleasant creamy walls and it is in a state of neglect.
    2. Picture of Tyrolese valley, Shakespeare’s bust, map, dome of an ancient city building show a civilized race.
    3. Tyrolese valley is filled with coloured flowers and resonates with bells.
    4. The map and the pictures are donations awarded to the slum children. It give them a glimpse of the world of the rich and the elite while the world of the slum children is dark and hopeless.
  4. In the poem, ‘an elementary school classroom in a slum’, Stephan Spender deals with the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. There are two different worlds - the world of rich and the world of poor. The more advanced the society, the larger the gap between the poor and the rich. The gifts and the donations given by the humanitarians in the form of map and literature are of no use to the slum children who live in dark narrow, cramped holes and lanes. Unless the gap between the two worlds is abridged, there can’t be any real progress.
  5. The map on the wall shows beautiful rivers, mountains and valleys whereas the world of the slum children shows only dim lanes covered with a lead sky. The beautiful world which is depicted in the map is unknown to the slum children. It just tempts them without giving them any opportunity to live in the real world.
  6. Stephen Spender wants social justice and equality for the children of the slum whose world is of want, miseries, dirt and hunger. The gap between the world of rich and the bleak and foggy world of slums must be abridged. All good things of life must be within the reach of the slum children too. Their lives can be changed if social injustice and inequalities be are removed.
  7. Shakespeare is described as wicked because there is no correlation between Shakespeare’s work and the life of the slum children. Classic literature of Shakespeare is beyond the understanding of the slum children. The maps which hung on the wall represent a beautiful world and high values which slum children have never experienced. They cannot relate it to them. They tempt them to steal.
  8. Stephen Spender tries to express a rather serious problem which affects our society i.e., poverty. Through the depiction of the students and the derelict condition of the classroom in the slum, the poet gives the reader a clear cut picture of poverty. He uses the phrases such as ‘paper seeming boy, with rat’s eye’ ‘rootless weeds’, etc. to show that they are very thin and emaciated because of undernourishment and they are unwanted by society.
  9. The walls of the classroom are decorated with the pictures of ‘Shakespeare’, buildings with domes’, world maps’, and beautiful valleys. These pictures represent beauty, progress, prosperity and high values which the slum children have never experienced. They beautifully contrasted with the world of the slum children. These pictures do not have any meanings to them. The slum children cannot relate it to them. The present condition of the slum children is miserable. They live in grim poverty.
  10. The poet makes an appeal to his readers, especially to the educated and well-off section of the society to help the poor children of the slum to get rid of their situation. This section can help the slum-dwellers to come out and get free from their miserable conditions and surroundings. His appeal is that these children should be given quality in education and it is the only key to prosperity and emancipation.