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Summary Stephen Spender - "XI" and "XII" - Analysis
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This is a summary and analysis of the poems "XI" and "XII" by Stephen Spender.
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XII‘My Parents’ by Stephen Spender is a brief poem discussing how the
presence of varying socioeconomic classes in society creates strong
societal barriers. Spender discusses how bullying occurs out of envy
of one another and may not just be one-sided in which the poor envy
the rich; but the rich can envy the poor as well that being born into a
particular family meant that you could only befriend certain groups of
people. Spender uses enjambment, imagery, and similes to describe
the feelings experienced when an interaction occurs between people
from different socioeconomic groups.
The first line out of the 12 lines of the poem explains that Spender was
kept away from children who were considered rough by none other
than his parents. The fact that Spender states that his parents ‘kept’
him from the other boys shows us that he felt like he was being forced
to stay away from him. The word ‘kept’ also shows his weakness, that
he was unable to protest against his parent’s will.
This line carries an air of negativity, showing us that Spender most
likely entitled his poem ‘My Parents’ as a way of blaming them for his
years of being bullied. There is no further elaboration of this and
Spender quickly jumps to describing the rough boys who his parents
kept him away from. Spender uses imagery to describe these boys as
ragged in appearance, with torn clothes and their skin being exposed
through rags.
This pathetic appearance could be Spender’s way of describing
poverty. The boys whom his parents wished him to stay away from
those that were of a much lower class than himself. Spender uses a
simile to relate their words to stones. The boys would throw words like
stones, which means that they were not careful of their language, and
, when they spoke, their words were harsh enough to hurt. Once again,
a lack of etiquette in speaking is a defining characteristic of the lower
class so it becomes obvious that the boys whom Spender was told to
stay away from, were those of a lower class.
Spender goes on to describe the boys in an almost exaggerated
fashion. He stresses how they were constantly outside doing things he
was never allowed to do, such as climbing cliffs and bathing in the
streams. It appears that he was even envious of their style of living.
Spender uses continuous Enjambment to allow his thoughts to flow
together and create unity between the sentences.
Naturally, being of a lower class meant the boys had to do more labor,
therefore, they had muscles which he could not even dream of having.
Spender states that he feared their knees on his arms which shows
that perhaps he had fallen into a scrap with them before, or he had
seen them fighting in such a manner with each other. Not only did
Spender fear their physical strength, but he also feared their words,
mocking him and pointing at him.
The fact that Spender states he feared their pointing shows his
insecurity of being left out. Spender has so much fear of the boys
because he had such a different lifestyle compared to them and
though he was of a higher socioeconomic status he somewhat desired
this lifestyle and that is what made him feel bad about not fitting in with
them. He describes them as fit and springing up from behind bushes.
This shows us that Spender found their behavior surprising and
shocking once again because he lived such a different lifestyle than
they did. Spender uses Imagery to show the boys were like some form
of predator. Springing from behind hedges to harass him for being
different than they were. Throughout the poem, Spender is describing
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