ENG2602 Poetry for exams 2019
1. Stephen Spender: My Parents kept me from children who were rough
2. Musa Masombuka : My
Parents Kept Me From ‘so-Called’ Friends
3. John Donne: The Sun Rising:
4. Thomas Gray Ode: On the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gol...
Hardy Thomas: The Man He Killed
16. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44329
Christina Rossetti: Remember
17. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174266
William Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
18. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/
John Donne: The Good Morrow
19. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173360
John Keats: Bright star, would I were steadfast:
20. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173733
My Parents
BY STEPHEN SPENDER
My parents kept me from children who were rough
Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes
Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.
I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron
Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my
arms I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys
Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.
,They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges
Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
While I looked the other way, pretending to
smile. I longed to forgive them but they never
smiled.
My Parents by Stephen Spender is a poem based on bullying and the desire to make friends.
Spender describes bullies and the feeling of being bullied throughout the poem. He elaborates
on his feelings using the poetic devices of Enjambment, Imagery, and Similes. My Parents is in
the first person and in an ambiguous point of view. However, we can assume that Spender was
mentioning his own direct feeling’s in this poem, so it was in his own point of view.
Interestingly enough, Spender has entitled his poem ‘My Parents’ despite the fact that the
entire poem centers around bullying. The only thing Spender mentions about his parents is
that they kept him away from these sinister boys who used to tease him. The fact that Spender
named the poem My Parents shows that he has a great appreciation for how they protected
him, or perhaps it shows that he blames his parents for being the children’s target, for they did
not allow him to befriend them. You can find the poem here.
My Parents Analysis
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 where 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
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 the
boys as ‘they’ and ‘their’ showing that he truly sees them as far and distant being who he never
can truly befriend.
Spender uses a Simile again to compare the boys to dogs, barking at his world and throwing
mud. It is interesting that he compared the boys to dogs, for dogs can both be an enemy or
close friend. Throwing mud could symbolize that the boy’s words had no real meaning to them
but they were simply echoes of their envy towards him. Spender makes the socioeconomic
class distinction more apparent by stating that he had a different world than what they had.
The boys were not hating on Spender himself, but rather, they were hating the class
distinctions and were more than likely envious of Spender’s privileged life. Spender concludes
by stating that he would have loved to befriend the boys had they even shown the slightest bit
of interest.
Towards the end of the poem, it becomes clear that Spender entitled the poem ‘My
Parents’ because it is due to being their child that he was given a more privileged life then these
boys. He was following the orders of his parents and at the same time fulfilling the social
requirement enforced on him due to his lineage by staying away from and even fearing the
impoverished boys. Some irony can also be seen in the poem as Spender should be happy that
he is so much more privileged than them, but instead of enjoying his lifestyle he fees envious
and seems to wish that he could enjoy their strength and freedom. There even seems to be a
hint of awe in the description that Spender gives of the boys, lithe like predators, string and
capable.
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
bullyingoccurs 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 before 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.
My Parents Kept Me From'so-Called' Friends - Poem by Musa Gift Masombuka
My parents kept me from so-called friends,
Whom I called them my friends,
From their glowing eyes I saw true friendship,
they wanted to see me from a professor being an armature,
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