MCQs AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM CLASS 12 ENGLISH

AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM
-STEPHEN SPENDER FLAMINGO CLASS-12

1. The poem “An elementary school classroom in a slum” is written by-
A. Stephen Spender
B. Kamala Das
C. Anees Jung
D. Pablo Neruda

Ans: A

2.  The theme of Stephen Spender’s poem is –
A. Introspection
B. Social injustice
C. Class inequalities
D. Both B & C

Ans: D

3. What does ‘ Far Far from gusty waves ’means?
A. Children live far from each other
B. Children are far away from joy and enjoyment of nature
C. Children live in a slum near sea
D. Children are far away from strong waves of sea

Ans: B

*Gusty waves symbolise the bright, energetic side of life that is so lively and full of enjoyment (Energetic & exuberant)

4. Poet compares the faces of children to rootless weeds which means the children are –
A. Insecure
B. Ill-fed
C. Wasters
D. None

Ans: A

 These children of slum are like the weeds, unwelcomed and unwanted by the rich world outside.

5. Which children are referred to here in the poem?
A. Children of urban areas
B. Children of rural areas
C. Children of slum
D. Child labourers

Ans: C

6. What does the pale faces of children represent?
A. Unhealthy lifestyle
B. Tuberculosis
C. No interest in classroom
D. Rich lifestyle

Ans: A

*Malnourishment , & hopelessness

7. The tall girl with her head weighed down means the girl  –
A. Has untidy hair
B. Has her head bent with shame
C. is ill & exhausted
D. is sleeping in the class

Ans:  C

She was over loaded and overburdened with the difficulties and struggle of life. So she is exhausted and  tired

8. The paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes means  the boy is –
A. Unpleasant looking
B. White as paper
C. Sly & secretive
D. thin, hungry & weak

Ans: D

His eyes are like rat’s small and scared, scared of

World.

9. Why is the heir being referred to as unlucky?
A. Because unlike other children he got nothing from his parents except poverty, struggle, a genetic disease
B. He got low marks
C. Because unlike other children  he is born in low income family
D. His parents died when he was too young

Ans: A

10. Why does the poet bring the image of children in a slum classroom?
A. To present the rich life of children
B. To present the hell like life of the slum children with no hope and future
C. Just for the sake of writing poem
D. To present the dim lit classroom

Ans: B

11. The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones means the boy –
A. Was short and bony
B. Has an inherited disability
C. Both A & B
D. None

Ans: B

12. How is the boy sitting at the back of the dim class different from other children?
A. He is from a rich background
B. He is very healthy
C. He lives in hope and dreams
D. Has an inherited disability

Ans: C

*He dreams of a squirrel game in trees. He dreams of nature, life and energy. Squirrel game’s here represents nature and life outside

*He dreams of life outside that hopeless dim classroom

13. “Paper seeming”& “stunted” suggest that –
A. Children were illiterate
B. Children had no toys , friends to play with
C. Children were studying in a dim lit classroom
D. Children’s undernourished condition

Ans: D

* Paper seeming boy with rat’s eyes – metaphor

14. What is the tone of the poet?
A. Suggests despair & misery
B. Suggests joy & hope
C. Optimistic & sympathetic
D. Introspection

Ans: A

15. Why the poet uses expression “On sour cream walls”?
A. To show the unhyegienic condition of the school
B. To show the colour of the wall
C. To show the decent infrastructure of classroom
D. To represent the dilapidated condition of the slum area

Ans:  A

16. What is the attitude of children towards Shakespeares’s picture?
A. Inspiration
B. Study Shakespeare
C. Meaningless
D. Valuable

Ans: C

17. How are the donated paintings related to the slum children?
A. Depict the life of slum children
B. The children had lived in the places paintings depict
C. Paintings were in contrast to the life of children
D. The paintings were donated by the parents of children

Ans: C

The world in these pictures has no relevance to the real life that exist in the slum school

18. What does ‘this map’ refer to?
A. The world in which the children lives
B. The world beyond the reach of the poor
C. The world map
D. None

Ans: B

19. What do the ‘windows’ signify here?
A. The windows of the classroom
B. The entrance to the other world
C. The happiness in the life of slum children
D. The connection between the two world –
the inside and the outside

Ans: D

Windows through which the children can have a glimpse of their surroundings  is in contrast to the pictures hanged on the classroom wall representing a world they can just aspire but never achieve ,the world they see through the windows is a part of the slum where they live & its their world

20. ‘Stars of words’ means –
A. School
B. Libraries
C. World of knowledge
D. World of stars

Ans: C

21. Identify the phrase which imply bleak future of the slum children.
A. Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor
B. ‘future’s painted with a fog, narrow street sealed in with a
lead sky
C. History is theirs whose language is sun
D. This map becomes their window

Ans: B

22. The poet uses the phrase wicked & bad example for –
A. Shakespeare & Map
B. Shakespeare & Governors
C. Children living in urban areas
D. Slum children

Ans: A

*There is no relevance of the real-life in the slum to the world depicted in the photos and map does not hold any place for these slum, the map doesn’t include their dirty streets & narrow lanes

*Wicked –morally wrong

23. What does the poet wants to convey through “ Open-handed map awarding the world its world”?
A. Persons in power make the world
B. The map is open for study
C. The children wish to live in the world painted in pictures
D. The civilized world of rich

Ans: A

Their world is the world of rich & important people & not for the children living & studying in the slums

24. What does the Tyrolese valley refer to in the poem?
A. represents knowledge, education and literate world
B. represents clear pollution free sky of world in nature’s
C. represents the pleasant beautiful world
D. represents the rich, progressive and civilized world

Ans: C

*Tyrol – Alpine province

25. Which option has the underlined phrase that applies the poetic device used for ‘rat’s eyes’?
A. He shut up like a clam when interrogated.
B. She runs as swift as a gazelle.
C. He is considered the black sheep of the family.
D. She ran away chattering with fear.

Ans: C

26. What kind of world is there for the children living in slums?
A. Wide Lanes with well lit classrooms
B. Narrow lanes with foggy skies & dim classrooms
C. Civilized & prosperous world of music , literature
D. Open world , rivers & sky

Ans: B

27. “With ships & sun and love tempting them to steal” what does this line refer to: 
A. The children love the ships & sun
B. They want freedom & joy
C. The beautiful things of the world tempt the children to steal which they are deprived of
D. The children want the luxuries of urban people

Ans:  C

*They may steal or commit crime to achieve them

28. This kind of life begins with the fog of uncertainty and ends with the night of death. Whose life is being referred to here?
A. Poet
B. Governor
C. Grandmother
D. Slum children

Ans:  D

29. What does slag heap signify?
A. Surroundings with garbage
B. Extreme poverty & misery
C. Waste material
D. Both A & C

Ans: B

Slag heap means wastage here poet refers to the body of each child of the slum. Poet has used it to compare children’s physique to the metallic wastage

30. “These children wear skins peeped through by bones” What does this refers to?
A. They are unhappy
B. They are unwanted just like weeds
C. They are very lean & thin
D. Children had a very soft skin

Ans: C

• They are so skinny because of malnutrition that we can count their bones through their skin
• Metaphor is used

31. The literal meaning of ‘reciting’ refers to delivering the lesson aloud. What does its figurative meaning refer to?
A. Showing extra interest in the lesson.
B. Carrying his father’s disease.
C. Resigning to his disease and condition.
D. Voicing the poor conditions, he lives in.

Ans: B

32. “With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones” refers to –

Ans: They use spectacles not for luxury but because it’s their necessity. They use mended glasses, cracked and steel framed. They can’t afford a brand new spectacle so they manage with repaired one

33. The metaphor ‘lead sky’, is used by Stephen Spender to bring out
A. the image of sky-high constructions in the slum.
B. a response to death and destruction.
C. the strong dreams and aspirations of the children.
D. a sense of hopelessness and despair.

Ans: D

34. “So blot their maps with slums as big as doom”
Here maps refer to ? –
A. World maps
B. Civilized places of the rich & great
C. Slum
D. A & B both

Ans: B

They don’t belong to the civilized beautiful world depicted on the map instead they live an unhealthy undernourished life in filthy slum full of dirt and dust.

35. Who can make ‘this map’ their windows?
A. Governor
B. Inspector
C. Visitor
D. All of the above

Ans: D

These windows stand for the limited , narrow world of slum children

36. Catacombs in the poem stands for –
A. Art Galleries
B. Dirty slums
C. Classroom
D. Administrative authorities

Ans: B

*Catacombs symbolise darkness and illiteracy which surrounds these children

37. “Break O Break open till they break the town”. What does the poet asks to break?
A. Break obstacles in progress & growth of slum children
B. Break the luxuries of children from rich background
C. Break the town with anger
D. Break the false promises of authorities

Ans: A

38. “Run azure on gold sands” refers to –

Ans: Poet says their world should extend to the blue sky rising above the gold sands. By this poet meant to expose these children to hope and to open-air where they can run free under the unlimited sky

*Azure- sky colour (blue)

39. “ And let their tongues run naked into books’’ means –

Ans: They should read without any hesitation or condition only then they can understand the books for progress and can break themselves free from the poor life of slum

40. Explain, “history is theirs whose language is the sun”

Ans:. To create history  language must have strength, brightness and warmth of  sun , weak people can’t make history

*The poet says if students studying in slum are allowed education in the form of free exploration, their language will gain the power and warmth of the Sun. They will acquire freedom of expression which will change their future and recreate history.

41. Poet brings  “A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky
Far far from rivers, capes & stars of words” we can say that this was –
A. Ominous
B. Contrast
C. Humourous
D. Metaphor

Ans: B

42. Identify the figure of speech in “ Far Far”
A. Simile
B. Personification
C. Repetition
D. Alliteration

Ans: C

• In “Far Far  from “ there is alliteration as the sound ‘f’ occurs thrice
• Repetition also in “Break o Break open”

43. Identify the poetic device in “Gusty waves”
A. Metaphor
B. Alliteration
C. Oxymoron
D. Simile

Ans: A

44. Choose from the given options the phrases which have simile figure of speech
A. Like rootless weeds
B. Like bottle bits on stones
C. Their maps with slums as big as doom
D. All of these

Ans: D

Simile -shut upon their lives like catacombs

45. Identify the figure of speech in “Gnarled disease”.
A. Hyperbole
B. Transferred epithet
C. Oxymoron
D. Personification

Ans: B

For example sleepless night , night is not itself sleepless the speaker had a sleepless night

*Gnarled – twisted , bent

46. The figure of speech in ‘language of sun’ is –
A.  Metaphor
B. Alliteration
C. Simile
D. Oxymoron

Ans: A

47. “From fog to endless night.” Identify the figure of speech
A. Hyperbole
B. Transferred epithet
C. Metaphor
D. Personification

Ans: C

*Fog & endless night stand for gloomy (dark) future & unending misery respectively

48. “civilized dome riding all cities” Identify the poetic device from the given options –
A. Simile
B. Metaphor
C. Personification
D. None

Ans: C

Ride is used for humans but here it is used for dome

49. “Of twisted bones , reciting a father’s gnarled disease.” Identify the pun here

Ans: The given line has two meanings

• The boy is reciting the lesson in class
• He has inherited disease of twisted bones from his father

50. Identify the figure of speech in “Tongues run naked into books –

Ans: Metaphor

51. Identify the poetic device in the following phrases ‘weighed down head’, ‘endless night’, ‘language is the sun’.
A. Symbol
B. Similes
C. Transferred Epithet
D. Alliteration

Ans: A

52. Which word in the poem means the same as ‘sophisticated’?
A. Tyrolese
B. Gnarled
C. Civilized
D. Azure

Ans:  C

53. What does the word ‘dim’ signify?
A. Dark children of slum children
B. Their classroom had no electricity
C. They had no light of hope
D. Dark & Dingy classrooms

Ans:  D

54. Which word in the poem will be antonym of ‘conspicuous’?
A. Tree room
B. Unnoted
C. Dim
D. Young

Ans:  B

*Conspicuous means easily noticeable

55. What does the expression ‘narrow street’ signify ?
A. Children are poor & unhealthy
B. Children live far away from civilized dome
C. They are deprived of natural surroundings
D. They live in slums which are situated in a congested area

Ans:  D

56. What is the pun in the word ‘windows’ used in the poem?
A. Father’s disease
B. Broken windows of classroom
C. Lack of opportunities
D. None

Ans:  C

57. What does ‘Lead sky’ symbolize?
A. Hopeful future of slum children
B. Hopeless future of slum children
C. Clouded sky
D. Growth & opportunities

Ans:  B

* “Sealed in with a lead sky’’ – Metaphor

58. The word ‘slyly’ in the poem means –
A. Shrewdly
B. Civilised
C. Open
D. Hope

Ans:  A

Shrewdly – cleverly , slyly

59. ___________ in the poem means confined
A. Slyly
B. Gusty
C. Mended
D. Cramped

Ans:  D

60.Find the antonym of the word ‘ tempting’
A. Intrigue
B. Attract
C. Captivate
D. Dissuade

Ans:  D

Dissuade –persuade (someone) not to take a particular course of action.

QUICK REVISION – POETIC DEVICES

Hope you find this helpful do subscribe to my channel