#50 Class 12 An elementary school classroom in a slum (24/04/2020)

Paraphrasing of the third stanza of the poem

Surely Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example

According to the poet, Shakespeare's picture is of no use to these children. It is the symbol of high quality literature but they are struggling even for basic facilities. The map is also a bad example for them as it is the symbol of world for them. Their world is limited to their windows only.

With Ships and sun and love tempting them to steal

The pictures of ships, sun and love tempt (attract) these children. They also want to live that life.

For lives that slyly turn in these cramped holes

From fog to endless night.

According to the poet,  slum children want to live the life depicted in pictures. But their life is limited to their cramped holes (uncomfortable small homes) . A very poor life has entered into their homes stealthily which  starts at fog and end also at night. Fog and endless night both are the symbols of being unclear and clueless. Fog and endless night are two poles of their life. We can say there is no clarity about their future.

On their slag heap, these children 

Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel

With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones

According to the poet, these children live in the houses which are made of slag (waste material). They are so malnourished that their bones also can be seen through their skin. The lenses of their steel glasses have been mended  which look like glasses after been hit by stones.

All of their time and space are foggy slum

So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.

Their time and space, everything is limited to their slum only. The slum is also full of fog that means the slum has unclear future. This foggy slum has blotted (barred) their  dream world. This slum is a hurdle in life as big as doom (misfortune).

#49 The Road not taken (23/04/2020)

Paraphrasing of the last stanza

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

According to Frost, he has a doubt in his mind whether he will be able to come back or not. But, it he comes back after ages he will be telling to the people with a sigh about his decision/choice.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

According to Frost, when he returns back he will be telling with a sigh about his decision. This sigh may be of happiness or remorse (पश्चाताप). But he will be telling people with pride that two roads diverged in a forest and he had taken the road which was less travelled and that had made difference in his life.

Special note-- Roads in this poem are the symbols of choices/decisions which we make in our life. Our decisions make a great impact on our lives. Generally we follow our elders' experiences. We walk on that path which they have already walked on. But Robert Frost walked on that path which was travelled by less people.In this poem Robert Frost is talking of his decision of coming back to America. `At the beginning when he did not get success as a poet, he migrated to England. There he became very famous as a poet. Returning back to America from there was not a wise decision but he took that risk and became a great poet of America.

Message--- The message is that we should not join sheep-walk. It is always not necessary to follow others. Sometimes we should choose the different ways also as per our interest. There may be hurdles in the way but the success coming out of that is very sweet. Even if we do not succeed, we may get good experience. 

#48 Class 12 An elementary school classroom in a slum(23/04/2020)

Paraphrasing II stanza

And yet, for these children, these windows, not this map their world,

Map is the symbol of world. But for these slum children this map is not the world. For them, the windows of their classroom are the world because they have not gone out of these windows.


Where all their future is painted with a fog.

For these children, the world is limited to their classroom windows only. Their future is painted with a fog means nothing is clear about their future.

A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky

Far far from rivers, capes and stars of words.

Their world is limited to a narrow street where their slum is. The lead sky has sealed their street. The sky is full of lead because of pollution. They are very far away from rivers and other water bodies. These rivers and capes appear to them like distant stars which have been mentioned in their books only.

#47 Class 9 The Road not Taken (22/04/2020)

Paraphrasing of the third stanza

    And both that morning equally lay

  In leaves no step had trodden black.

Both the roads were looking appealing to him.He was attracted to the second road which was 

full of leaves. No one had trodden on the leaves which were lying on the roads.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

The poet decided to go for the second road. He kept the first road for another day.


Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

He knew very well that he did not know anything about that way. He had a doubt also in his mind whether he would come back or not.

#46 Class 12 An elementary school classroom in a slum (22/04/2020)

 Paraphrasing of second stanza


On sour cream walls, donations.

The colour of walls has faded because the walls have not been white-washed for a long time. There are some pictures hanging on the walls which have been donated. 

Shakespeare's head, 

cloudless at dawn,

civilised dome riding all cities.

Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley


The first picture is of William Shakespeare. (William Shakespeare is a great dramatist and renowned name in the field of English.)

The second picture is the scene of dawn (early morning) which is cloudless.

The third picture is of a modern dome (गुम्बद) which rides all the cities.

The fourth picture is of beautiful Tyrolese valley which has many beautiful flowers.

Tyrol Valley is a high ice-free valley lying east of Mount Baldr in the Asgard Range, Victoria Land. The valley was named by Austrian biologist Heinz Janetschek, a participant in the United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP) program in this area in 1961–62, after his native Tirol (Tyrol).

open-handed map 
Awarding the world its world.

We can see a map also hanging at the wall. The map is the symbol of the world. This map is called  open-handed because  it boundaries and shape can be decided by anyone whosoever is in power and have money.

#45 Class-9 The Road not taken (21/04/2020)

Paraphrasing of the poem

Then took the other, just as fair

After inspection the first road, the poet gave a look at the second road. It was looking fair in the same way like the first road.

And having perhaps the better claim

The second road appeared  more appealing. It had better claim.

Because it was grassy and wanted wear.

The second road looked more appealing to the poet because it was full of grass. It seemed that no one had attempted that. It invited people to walk on.

Though as for that passing there had worn them really about the same.

If people had walked on this road also, there would not have any difference between these two roads. This second road also would have become just like the first one.

#44 Class 12 An elementary school classroom in a slum (21/04/2020)

The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones reciting his father's gnarled disease.

That paper seeming boy (Thin boy) indicates towards malnutrition in slum areas. We can see one more child in the class who is stunted (his bones have not developed). He has inherited the gnarled disease (the disease of twisted bones) from his father.

His lesson, from his desk.

He is taking his lesson sitting at from his desk.

At back of the dim class one unnoted, sweet and young.

The class is dim because of less light. It is situated in a narrow street that's why the sun-rays are not reaching to the class. In this dim class we can see one sweet and young who has gone unnoticed till now.

His eyes live in a dream of squirrel's game, in tree room, other than this.

That sweet boy has a dream  in his eyes. He wants to play and move like a squirrel who keeps up moving from his tree nest to the classroom. He wants that liberty to move out of his slum.


Poetic devices used--

1. Alliteration--- Far, far from gusty waves.......

2. Simile-- these children's faces like rootless weeds

3. Metaphor-- The stunted, unlucky heir of twisted bones.