MY PARENTS

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. Interestingly enough, Spender has entitled his
poem ‘My Parents’ despite the fact that the entire poem centers on 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.

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
(child mentality). The boys whom his parents wished him to stay away from where those were of a much
lower class than him. 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 show 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 did not hate on Spender himself, but
rather, they hated 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.

 The poem is divided into three stanzas and does not have a regular rhyme structure, probably
used by the poet to emphasize the irregular and harsh treatment he had been a victim of through
the treatment meted out to him by other children. The language is simple and straightforward,
which makes the content easily understandable.
  It is clear that the speaker distances himself from these 'rough' children - the constant use of 'they'
and 'their' makes it clear that the speaker does not share a close relationship with or have any
attachment to, these children.
 The speaker was terribly afraid of these other children and feared their strength 'more than tigers'.
Their muscles were 'like iron' which implies that they were strong because of all the physical
activity or that they came from a rough neighborhood and were hardened by their harsh lives.
They obviously bullied the speaker, for their hands were 'jerking', a reference to their constant
pulling and shoving and reaching out to him. 'Their knees tight on my arms' makes it painfully
obvious that they physically abused him.
 They 'copied my lisp' further indicating that they made fun of how he spoke. (SPEECH
IMPEDIMENT)
 However the animal imagery makes it clear that he does not admire them since 'they sprang out
behind hedges' obviously to scare him as an animal would do to surprise its prey. They were 'like
dogs' further emphasizing their savage nature and they would 'bark at our world'. This line
clearly emphasizes that the speaker sees himself completely apart from these rough children.
They come from entirely different worlds - he, civilized and they not.

 The last two lines have much pathos. The speaker attempts to appear brave by
looking 'the other way, pretending to smile', but obviously, he cannot. He had the desire
to forgive them for the manner in which they treated him, but they, of course, never gave
him the opportunity to do so and rejected him outright - 'yet they never smiled'. He did
not stand a chance with them.

Structure

This poem is structured with stanzas. Therefore, this is a formal poem. Each stanza consists of
four lines. However, the poem does not have a rhyme scheme.

There is a hint of end-rhyme in the last two lines of the poem, though, with the words “smile”
and “smiled” rhyming imperfectly. The poem does employ internal rhyme though. This is rhyme
within a line. For example, internal rhyme in this poem occurs in this line: “Who threw words
like stones and wore torn clothes”

In addition, alliteration is a literary device that is used in this poem as part of its structure. An
alliteration example is: “Climbed cliffs”

I think the most interesting thing about the structure of this poem is the use of enjambment
and caesura.

Both the first and second stanza are expressed in one breath. As the ideas are somewhat contradictory
(stanza 1 – snobbery vs admiration; stanza 2 – bullying vs physical admiration) the effect of jumbling
them together shows the confusion within the poetic voice. He does not know whether to feel
revulsion or admiration and cannot separate the two feelings.
Suddenly, the punctuation in the third stanza goes crazy! We now have two additional full stops and
a comma. This significantly slows the pace and causes us to reflect on the two things that Spender
knows clearly how he feels about. The first full stop is used by Spender to show the impact of the
bullying on his life and the fact it seems inescapable. The comma offers us a brief pause where we
see that Spender does not just look away and try to ignore the bullying, but guiltily longs for the
bullies to embrace him and say it was all a joke.

TONE
Only in the final stanza is there a sense of lamentation that the bullies never allowed
him to feel he belong.

PRAISE SONG FOR MY MOTHER

THEMES:
 Sense of loss
 She is at once lamenting over her death and then celebrating all the things she
represented for her daughter
 Strong connection drawn between her and the nature

The title and opening line make us immediately aware that this poem is looking back upon the death
of Nichols’ mother. It is deeply personal as we can see from the use of the second person address.

It is basically a tribute poem in which Nichols honors her mother. The meaning of the poem is embedded
within the many metaphors woven into the text by Nichols. Nichols is comparing her mother to many
different things so as to show the necessity of having her mother in her life.

Form and structure

The poem has five brief stanzas of uneven length, the first three regular, the fourth extended and the
fifth very brief. The lines themselves are not metrically regular, making this really a piece of free
verse. The poem is strongly repetitive but also has a strong shape on the page and when spoken
aloud. There is a real sense of growth as the lines increase in length, then contract again, something
like waves on the sea.