My Parents

Question 1

My Parents Kept me

Answer 1

Stephen Spender

Question 2

Themes

Answer 2

Rites of passage
Conflict
Childhood

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

Written in very simple four line stanzas, reminiscent of stories read as a child at school
Four line stanza are called quatrains and these are ballad stanzas

Question 4

Language

Answer 4

While the poem describes childhood it has further more subtle connections with childhood. The speaker constructs his sentences using loose co-ordination, repeating the word ‘and’ again and again. This is how very young children tell stories. This feature makes the tone of the speakers language very child like, and other phrases in the poem seem to recall nursery rhymes and playground taunts

Question 5

Speaker

Answer 5

Adult speaker looking back on their childhood thinking about the relationship they had with their parents

Question 6

Conflict

Answer 6

There is a lot in the poem that can be linked to the idea of conflict in the poem
Obvious conflict between the speaker and the ‘rough’ children
Also conflict between the speaker and their parents
This opposition can be seen in the way that the poem shifts backwards and forwards between I/my and they/their - the different pronouns reflecting the ideas of the opposing side

Question 7

What kind of sentences are used?

Answer 7

Ones of polysyndetic nature

Question 8

“Who were rough”

Answer 8

This is very open as ‘rough’ is not clearly defined
Perhaps there is a social division taught to the boy by the over protective parents, as they introduced ideas of prejudice into the young mind of the speaker

Question 9

“Threw words like stones”

Answer 9

It seems to evoke playground rhymes such as ‘sticks and stones’ whilst at the same time (ironically) alluding to the effectiveness of the taunts

Question 10

“Who threw… who wore”

Answer 10

Is anaphora which suggest a educated correctness to the speaker’s voice, contrasting him from the ‘rough’ children

Question 11

Stephen Spender

Answer 11

Never allowed to play with poor children
Spender’s sister Christine claimed they, “Were never allowed to play with poor children because my mother regarded them as not only rough but perpetual carriers of infectious diseases’

Question 12

“Ran” “Climbed” “Stripped”

Answer 12

Strings of dynamic verbs provides the readers with images of unrestricted play and freedom desired by the soekaer

Question 13

“Their thighs showed through rags”

Answer 13

Offends the sense of propriety installed in the speaker by his over protective parents, this portrays the speaker as a very snobbish
Also suggests the physicality of the children, either intimidating the speaker or drawing him in, as he longs for their freedom

Question 14

“I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron”

Answer 14

“Tiger” is very reminiscent of nursery books and childish fears, couple with “muscles like iron” it is a very cliche simile and very child like
Furthermore he realises the children are the more real threat, however the simile suggests a sense of guarded admiration

Question 15

“Their jerking hands”

Answer 15

Here the modifier ‘jerking’ suggests a spazmodic and uncontrolled type of movement and a sense of forcefulness

Question 16

“Knees tight on my arms”

Answer 16

First introduces sense of proximity, captures speakers experiences of claustrophobic character of physical bullying, and echoes Spenders accounts of playground bullying in his own writing about his childhood

Question 17

“The salt coarse pointing”

Answer 17

Interesting image because of the synaethesia-like blurring of the senses sight and taste
Salt connotations of tears, or of rubbing salt into the wounds of the speaker
‘Salt cours(ness)’ could suggest sweat and the physical nature of the encounters
Pointing suggests being singled out by the bullies

Question 18

“Who copied my lisp behind my back”

Answer 18

Mockery
Lack of sibilant sounds throughout the poem
Speech and how it can divide people

Question 19

“They were lithe”

Answer 19

Again highlights the speakers guarded admiration

also suggests a zoomorphic comparison

Question 20

“Sprang” “Threw”

Answer 20

Again very dynamic verbs highlighting the freedoms of the rough boys
“sprang” also suggests the speakers vulnerability and being caught off guard by boy

Question 21

“Like Dogs they bark”

Answer 21

Links to lithe, dehumanises them and divests them of language, making an unbridgeable gulf between them

Question 22

“Our world”

Answer 22

Makes this a very learnt and educative insult as he heightens the idea of separate worlds and separate lives

Question 23

“I longed to forgive them”

Answer 23

Suggests an educated religiousness of the speaker reflecting Christ’s injunction to ‘turn the other cheek’ and love ones enemies

Question 24

“I longed to forgive them, yet they never smiled”

Answer 24

Ambiguity of the pronoun offers two criminals to the reader the parents and the boisterous children
Longed suggests the strength of emotion
Here, the poem is transformed from being an account of bullying, to that of a broader sense of regret for all that has been withheld and denied to the speaker through the actions of the parents