My Parents Flashcards
introduction
In this poem, the poet describes his childhood with great ambivalence, describing how, as a child, he was victimised by other children of a lower class. The poem is framed in the universal contexts of coming of age and freedom versus conformity.
paragraphs
1) stanza 1 (order versus chaos)
2) stanza 2 (attraction versus repulsion)
3) stanza 3 (isolation)
paragraph on stanza 1 (order versus chaos)
1) “My parents” - Synedoche as part stands for the whole. Parents represent society, generation and order.
2) “kept me” - Seems restrictive and unwanted.
3) “threw words like stones”
4) “children who were rough” - Euphemism for lower classes, emphasising social inequality. Seems condescending. Spender takes on the voice of his parents and a certain resentment is clear.
5) “they ran in the street and climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.” - by contrast to the parents restrictive, ordered behaviour, the boys seem active and wild. The tricolon of active verbs, coupled with the enjambment, conveys pace and activity of the street kids. The syndetic listing emphasises the extent and range of this activity and Spender seems admiring and slightly jealous.
paragraph on stanza 2 (attraction versus repulsion)
1) “I feared” - Spender immediately declares his sense of terror towards the boys. However, mixed in with the fear there is a sense of his admiration and attraction towards the boys, creating tension between his two conflicting emotions.
2) “tigers” - this is an ambivalent image. On the one hand a tiger is a predatory creature to be feared and yet it is also exotic, making it attractive and appealing. Ultimately this reflects Spender’s emotions towards the boys as he regards their fearsome beauty with awe.
3) “muscles like iron” - This simile conveys the strength and possibly harshness of the boys. However there is a sense of the duality of Spender’s emotions, showing his internal conflict.
4) “I feared” - Spender’s use of anaphora as he repeats the sentiment that he opened the stanza with makes it seem as though he is attempting to convince the reader and maybe even himself that he does fear the boys. It is almost as though he wants to hate and fear the boys but he really he is attracted to them.
paragraph on stanza 3 (isolation)
1) “like dogs to bark at our world”-simile is cruel and degrading, suggesting the boys are animalistic and inarticulate as their voices are reduced to a series of barks. The separation between spender and the boys is emphasised by the use of the plural possessive pronoun, showing the class divide. It feels as though Spender is retreating to the comfort and safety of his parents after his harsh treatment from the boys.
2) “they…I” - throughout this stanza the pronouns I and they are repeated again emphasising Spenders separation. Whilst they are a collective joined together as a group, he stands alone and isolated.
3) “I longed to forgive them” - The long vowel sound of “longed” suggests Spender’s desperation and yearning. It suggests his rejection and alienation from the boys. Furthermore the fact that he is prepared to forgive them shows that ultimately his admiration and attraction to the boys is more overpowering than his fear.
4) “yet they never smiled” - The antithesis is emphasised at the end of the poem. The tension between the boy’s cruelty and Spender’s wistful longing.
Conclusion
The overwhelming feeling in the poem is an ambivalent one. This is emphasised by the structure which on the one hand seems restrained and restricted into 3 uneven stanzas and yet the stanzas follow no rhyme and Spender uses enjambement to suggest freedom. Ultimately, the sense is a tortured one as Spender seems trapped and isolated in his conformist and restrictive world.
