My Parents - Stephen Spender Flashcards
What does the line “My parents kept me from children who were rough” suggest?
t indicates the persona’s parents’ protective nature and highlights the contrast between the persona and the rough children.
What does the simile “threw words like stones” reveal about the rough children?
It emphasizes their destructive behavior. Their words are sharp, blunt, and intended to harm emotionally, paralleling the physical damage caused by thrown stones.
How does the description of “torn clothes” and “thighs showed through rags” characterize the rough children?
A: These details symbolize their poverty and lower social standing. Despite their hardships, they are portrayed as energetic and free, contrasting with the persona’s more sheltered, controlled life.
How does the persona feel about the rough children’s freedom?
He envies their ability to run, climb, and swim without restriction. Their physical freedom represents a life he is denied by his overprotective parents, creating an emotional conflict within him.
What does the comparison of their muscles to “iron” convey?
It suggests their physical strength, earned through hard labor and active play. This strength intimidates the persona but also elicits a sense of admiration for their resilience and vitality.
Why does the persona compare the boys’ pointing to “salt coarse”?
The metaphor conveys the rough, abrasive nature of their mockery. It suggests their insults feel as sharp and irritating as coarse salt, adding a layer of emotional pain to their harassment. This could also imply that their mockery feels like “rubbing salt into a wound,” intensifying his hurt.
How is the persona’s disability a source of torment in My Parents?
: His lisp becomes a focal point for their ridicule, emphasizing his vulnerability. It isolates him further, making him an easy target for mockery and reinforcing the social divide between them.
What does the simile “like dogs to bark at my world” suggest about the rough childre
A: It depicts them as animalistic, territorial, and threatening. By “barking at his world,” they mock his privileged life, viewing him as an outsider or intruder in their space.
What does the line “I longed to forgive them but they never smiled” imply?
Despite the persona’s desire to move past their hostility and forgive them, the rough children remain distant and unkind. This highlights the barriers of envy, misunderstanding, and societal expectations that prevent reconciliation.
: What social issue does My Parents address?
The poem critiques the divisions between social classes, focusing on how wealth and privilege can create envy and hostility while also limiting the privileged from experiencing life’s freedoms.
How does parental protection affect the speaker in My Parents?
The parents’ protection shields him from harm but also isolates him from others. This creates a tension where he feels safe but constrained, longing for the rough children’s freedom even as he fears their aggression.
What tone dominates the poem My Parents?
A reflective tone, exploring the irony of mutual envy between the speaker and the rough children.
Summary
In this poem, the speaker recalls a childhood where his parents kept him from “rough” children, likely of a lower social class, to shield him from bullying. While this protection limits his freedom, he admires the children’s carefree play and strength, contrasting with his own sheltered life. Despite his attempts to befriend them, they mock him relentlessly, driven by jealousy of his privilege. Ironically, he envies their freedom. The poem’s reflective mood explores themes of childhood experience, parental influence, and social segregation, with an underlying irony in the mutual envy across class lines.
