Literature
Stephen Spender (1909-1995) mixed with a number of left wing poets while at oxford including W.H Auden, and joined the fight against Fran coin the Spanish Civil war. Always interested in human and social concerns, he questioned how poetry could address such issues.
The poem 'My Parents' touches on a social divide between on a social divide between the comfortable middle class narrator and local working class children. It is a divide of which both sides are keenly aware. On the side, the narrator's 'parents kept me from children who were rough', while on the other the children 'threw mud' 'at my world'
At the end of the poem, the narrator an.d the other children remain apart : 'I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.' As the poem develops through its three stanzas, the boy seems to long for more than to offer forgiveness. Spender's language consistently expresses have a vitality that he self-consciously lacks with his 'lisp'. Note that the verbs applied to them are full of action-'threw', 'ran', 'climbed', 'tripped', 'sprang'- while the narrator's verbs are passive and weak -'feared','looked','pretending','longed'.The vigor of the children's actions is em phasised by their rhythmic-placing in the lines.
The local children have freedom, roaming'the street . 'cliffs' and 'country streams' and they have physical presence , with 'thighs', ;muscles like iron' and they are described as 'lithe'. The reminiscence of childhood shows a community divided by class and education, but also contains a yearning for some thing missed.
The title is interesting. The parents are not mentioned after the first words of the poem, so what effect and significance dose the choice of title have?
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Literature
Summary of My Parents by Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender (1909-1995) mixed with a number of left wing poets while at oxford including W.H Auden, and joined the fight against Fran coin the Spanish Civil war. Always interested in human and social concerns, he questioned how poetry could address such issues.
The poem 'My Parents' touches on a social divide between on a social divide between the comfortable middle class narrator and local working class children. It is a divide of which both sides are keenly aware. On the side, the narrator's 'parents kept me from children who were rough', while on the other the children 'threw mud' 'at my world'
At the end of the poem, the narrator an.d the other children remain apart : 'I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.' As the poem develops through its three stanzas, the boy seems to long for more than to offer forgiveness. Spender's language consistently expresses have a vitality that he self-consciously lacks with his 'lisp'. Note that the verbs applied to them are full of action-'threw', 'ran', 'climbed', 'tripped', 'sprang'- while the narrator's verbs are passive and weak -'feared','looked','pretending','longed'.The vigor of the children's actions is em phasised by their rhythmic-placing in the lines.
The local children have freedom, roaming'the street . 'cliffs' and 'country streams' and they have physical presence , with 'thighs', ;muscles like iron' and they are described as 'lithe'. The reminiscence of childhood shows a community divided by class and education, but also contains a yearning for some thing missed.
The title is interesting. The parents are not mentioned after the first words of the poem, so what effect and significance dose the choice of title have?
-Stephen Spender
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Assignment: Pretend you witnessed the beating of Brother Man. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper in your country and express your feelings about the attack and your feelings on Rastafarianism on a hold. ...
- Would You Agree That Promises Made To The Poor Children Are Rarely Kept? Why Do You Think This Happens In The Incidents Narrated In The Text? - Lost Spring By Anees Jung
Promises made to the poor children of this world are astonishingly a lot but they are rarely kept.Governments Charities and at even international levels can't keep their promises. They promise to provide healthy lives, education, protection...
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Philip Larkin (1922-1985) is a poet whose work is very popular, despite his reputation for being a pessimistic, death-obsessed and darkly humorous observer of humanity. In this poem, Larkin...
- One Art By Elizabeth Bishop Summary
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