Literatus

Allusion: An allusion is a reference or an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication. An example of allusion in this poem is ‘cardboard’ which actually refers to the photograph.  Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sound (generally a consonant) of several words marking the stressed syllable in a line of poem. Examples of alliteration in this poem are ‘stood still to smile’, ‘terribly transient’, ‘Its silence silences’ etc.  Transferred Epithet: An Epithet is an adjective. If it gets transferred from its literal place to a metaphoric place ‘Transient feet’ is an example of the transferred epithet in the poem. It refers to human feet but it is used to describe the lack of permanence of human life.  Oxymoron: In this literary device, there are two opposite ideas that are joined to create an effect. ‘Laboured ease’ in the poem is an example of an oxymoron. Laboured meaning with ‘great difficulty’ and ease means ‘comfortably’. B...

 

Structure ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum’ by Stephen Spender is in free verse. There are some imperfect rhyme schemes in the poem. While taking the poem as a whole the rhyme scheme does not seem to follow a specific order. The loose lines without any intricately woven decorum depict the poet’s disillusionment of any kind of order. Whatsoever, the text of the poem contains four stanzas. Each stanza of the poem consists of eight lines having uneven line lengths. Poetic Devices, Stanza by Stanza ‘An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum‘ by Stephen Spender contains some important poetic devices which bring out the internal meaning of the lines. The literary devices used in each stanza are significant concerning the theme of the poem. Stanza 1 "Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces. (…) Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this." In the first stanza of the poem, Stephen Spender uses a simile while comparing the “children’s faces” to “rootless weeds”. ...