“My parents kept me from children who were rough and who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes.” *“Like stones” is used as a simile
to compare the children to stones
. Stones in this case could be referring to their characters describing them as emotionless people with a lack of feeling.
Who threw words like stones is an example of?
Imagery
: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes”; “Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms” and “Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street.”
What is the tone in the poem my parents?
The mood of this poem is
reflective
. The themes include childhood experience, parental influence and social segregation. The persona begins with a somewhat accusatory phrase. His parents restrained him from being near the ‘children who were rough' as a preventative measure.
What is the meaning of the word rough within the context of this poem?
“Rough” in the context of this poem means “
uncouth” or “of a low class” or “common”
. They're the type of children the poet's parents didn't want him to mix with because of their poor background and questionable moral standards.
How are the boys described in stanza one of the poem my parents?
In the first stanza, the
boys are described as neglected and troubled
. The “rough” children do not seem to choose to be mean. They are clearly living in poverty, and have nearly no one to take care of them. They have “torn clothes” and are clearly skinny and poorly clothed.
Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes?
The poem begins with the narration by a child Spencer “My parents kept me from children who were rough,
//
Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes”. Spencer seems to be a sheltered child, he also seems to be from a household that was more affluent.
Why did Stephen Spender write my parents?
‘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.
What type of poem is my parents?
This poem is structured with stanzas. Therefore, this is
a formal poem
. Each stanza consists of four lines. However, the poem does not employ and end-rhyme scheme – there is no regular end-rhyme per se in this poem, such as a strict ABAB rhyme scheme, or some such other end-rhyme scheme.
What is Enjambment in a poem?
Enjambment, from the French meaning “a striding over,” is a poetic term for
the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next
. An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried smoothly and swiftly—without interruption—to the next line of the poem.
What is the mood of a poem?
The mood of a poem is
the emotion evoked in the reader by the poem itself
. Mood is often confused with tone, which is the speaker's attitude toward…
What is the persona in a poem?
A dramatic character
, distinguished from the poet, who is the speaker of a poem. The persona who describes the process of composing and playing music in Robert Browning's “Abt Vogler” is a German organist by the same name.
Why is the poet using the words salt coarse?
Why is the poet using the words “salt coarse”? To tell the reader that the word “
coarse” applies to the rude boys
. To tell the reader that the boys were very rude and hurtful to Spender.
What is the poem once upon a time by Gabriel Okara about?
Once Upon A Time is a free verse poem that focuses
on a father's attitude to cultural change and times past, before the incoming Western culture affected the native African way of life
. In the poem the man (presumably a father) addresses the son, telling him in a rather nostalgic manner, how things used to be.
What is the theme of the poem little boy crying?
Youth and Innocence
. “Little Boy Crying” explores the simple innocence of youth and the ways in which children try to make sense of the world. The poem specifically focuses on a little boy's attempt to process the fact that his father has just hit him.
When was Stephen Spender born?
Sir Stephen Spender, in full Sir Stephen Harold Spender, (born
February 28, 1909
, London, England—died July 16, 1995, London), English poet and critic, who made his reputation in the 1930s with poems expressing the politically conscience-stricken, leftist “new writing” of that period.
Is it my parent's or parents?
Parent's refers to one parent
. The possessive form. Parents is the plural form of parent. Parents' is the possessive form referring to more than one parent.
