My Parents – Stephen Spender

边玩边学

回答这些题目来赚取能量，然后钓鱼探索。无需账号。

给教育者： 面向 My Parents – Stephen Spender（English，World Literature）的即用型课程幻灯片, 复习笔记——用在你的课堂上，或将该知识点作为学习者可实时游玩的互动课堂活动来运行。

课程笔记

The poem at a glance

  • "My Parents" by English poet Stephen Spender (1909–1995), published in the 1930s.
  • An adult speaker remembers how his parents kept him from children who were rough — working-class boys who bullied him.
  • Three quatrains in free verse move from description of the boys, to fear, to a final longing for connection: "I longed to forgive them, but they never smiled."
  • Key ideas: class division, fear and bullying, envy of freedom, isolation, and the effect of upbringing.

Stanza 1: the rough children

  • "My parents kept me from children who were rough": the parents' protection is also separation — the title points at them.
  • "Who threw words like stones": a simile making insults physical and dangerous.
  • "wore torn clothes. / Their thighs showed through rags": poverty seen through a middle-class child's eyes.
  • "They ran in the street / And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams": a list of freedoms — outdoor, physical, unsupervised. The speaker may envy them as much as fear them.

Stanza 2: fear

  • "I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron": hyperbole and a simile — the boys seem wild and machine-strong.
  • "Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms": remembered physical violence; the harsh verb makes the reader flinch.
  • "the salt coarse pointing of those boys": "salt" suggests rough, stinging, working-class; pointing singles him out.
  • "Who copied my lisp behind me on the road": the humiliation is personal — they mock the way he speaks.

Stanza 3: longing

  • "They were lithe, they sprang out behind hedges / Like dogs to bark at my world": animal imagery — agile, sudden, aggressive; "my world" shows the class boundary.
  • "They threw mud / While I looked the other way, pretending to smile": he hides his hurt, perhaps wanting to be accepted.
  • "I longed to forgive them, but they never smiled.": the last line turns from fear to a wish for friendship — but the barrier remains.
  • The caesura at "but" sharpens the disappointment: reconciliation is wanted, and refused.

Form and methods

  • Three quatrains, no regular rhyme, loose rhythm — orderly stanzas, unsettled lines.
  • Monosyllables and heavy stresses ("threw words like stones") make lines hit hard.
  • Similes of violence and animals (stones, iron, tigers, dogs) show how the child saw them.
  • Retrospective voice: the adult speaker recalls a child's fear — and perhaps sees his parents' role more critically.
  • The ending's echo of "smile" ("pretending to smile" / "they never smiled") ties the last stanza together.

Themes and comparisons

  • Class: the boundary between "my world" and theirs, built by the parents.
  • Fear and bullying: physical and verbal.
  • Envy and freedom: the rough boys have a physical liberty the protected child lacks.
  • Forgiveness and isolation: he wants connection, but the division holds.
  • Comparisons: "Childhood" (a child's-eye view), "For Heidi with Blue Hair" (young people and authority), "Follower" (parents and children).

幻灯片

Sign up free to view the lesson slides

Step through every slide for this topic — plus flashcards and revision notes — with a free account.

注册——免费登录

练习题

免费预览——37 题中的 8 题。注册即可查看全部。

  1. 1.Who wrote 'My Parents'?

    Easy
    • AStephen Spender
    • BSeamus Heaney
    • CPhilip Larkin
    • DA E Housman

  2. 2.What did the speaker's parents do?

    Easy
    • ASent him to a boarding school abroad
    • BEncouraged him to fight
    • CForbade him from reading
    • DKept him from children who were rough

  3. 3."threw words like stones" is an example of…

    Easy
    • Aa rhetorical question
    • Balliteration only
    • Ca simile
    • Donomatopoeia

  4. 4.What does 'threw words like stones' suggest?

    Medium
    • AThey were building a wall
    • BTheir insults hurt like physical blows
    • CThey were good at throwing
    • DThey spoke softly

  5. 5.Which detail shows the children's poverty?

    Medium
    • ATheir thighs showed through rags
    • BThey climbed cliffs
    • CThey had muscles like iron
    • DThey sprang out behind hedges

  6. 6.What does the speaker say he feared 'more than tigers'?

    Medium
    • AHis parents
    • BThe country streams
    • CThe road home
    • DThe boys' muscles like iron

  7. 7.What did the boys copy behind him on the road?

    Medium
    • AHis clothes
    • BHis laugh
    • CHis lisp
    • DHis walk

  8. 8.What are the boys compared to in stanza 3?

    Medium
    • ATigers in a cage
    • BDogs barking at his world
    • CBirds in a hedge
    • DWolves in a forest

Unlock all 37 questions, flashcards & more

创建免费账号，即可查看该知识点的每一道题、幻灯片、闪卡和复习笔记。

注册——免费登录

历年真题

该知识点的历年真题练习即将推出。
即将推出