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My Parents: By: Stephen Spencer

Here is a 4 line poem about how my parents help me: My loving parents guide me each day They help with schoolwork and find time to play Whether it's cooking, cleaning or driving around I'm grateful for their love and support they have found

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David Goncalves
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426 views

My Parents: By: Stephen Spencer

Here is a 4 line poem about how my parents help me: My loving parents guide me each day They help with schoolwork and find time to play Whether it's cooking, cleaning or driving around I'm grateful for their love and support they have found

Uploaded by

David Goncalves
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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My Parents

By: Stephen Spencer


Author Biography:
Stephen Spencer:
• “Poet and critic Stephen Spender was born in 1909 in London. He was a member of the generation
of British poets who came to prominence in the 1930s” (poetryfoundation.org)
• “During World War II, Spender worked for the London fire service. From 1965 to 1966, he served
as the consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. He was professor of English at University
College, London from 1970 to 1977, and he frequently gave lectures at universities in the United
States. He was knighted in 1983” (poetryfoundation.org)
• “The 1930s were marked by turbulent events that would shape the course of history: the
worldwide economic depression, the Spanish Civil War, and the beginnings of World War II.
Seeing the established world crumbling around them, the writers of the period sought to create a
new reality to replace the old, which, in their minds, had become obsolete”
(poetryfoundation.org)
Stephen
Spencer:

independent.co.uk
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.
They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges
Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron While I looked the other way, pretending to smile.
Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.
I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys • By: Stephen Spencer
Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.
Structure:

• The poem is a narrative poem, as it doesn’t provide any specific


pattern on its rhyme scheme, and it tells a story.

• The poem is composed of three stanzas, of four lines each.

“rhyme scheme”:
ABCD – EFGH - IJKL
• The tone and mood are in contrast, as the
mood is sad, coming from the speakers
perspective, and not being able to interact
Tone/ Mood: with the other kids, but this is quickly
switched to a switch of our perspective of
the parents, from strict to protective of their
child, making the tone heartwarming and
happy.
First Stanza:

“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.”

Analysis:
This stanza highlights a well-rounded summary of the
speaker’s parents, and how they “kept” him from being
in contact with other kids, either because they thought
they where a bad influence
(Green) or because the where poor, making the parents
quite classist.
Second Stanza:
“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
Analysis: Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.”

This stanza switches our attention from the parents


to the kids, and how they look (line1) and behave
(line 4)
Third Stanza:

“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.
Analysis: I longed to forgive them but they never
smiled.”
This stanza relates the few interactions between
the speaker and the kids, and how they treated
him. There is also an intended switch of POV
Connecting Text:
• Are you winning son? (Meme)
• “Are Ya Winning, Son? is an exploitable
image series based on an MS Paint
webcomic in which a father walks in on his
son playing a hentai virtual reality game and
Are you asks "are ya winning, son?“”
(knowyourmeme.com)
winning son? • While the exact origin of the comic is
unknown, it may have originated from 4chan
due to the use of the name "Anon-kun," a
reference to the site's anonymous users. On
January 11th, 2014, the comic was submitted
to an Oculus Rift thread on the RPG Codex
Forums (kwowyourmeme.com)
• Write and share a poem of at least four lines
Class Activity: in which you teel us about your parents or
how do your parents help you in your every
day life.
Works Cited:
• Rivers, Mom. Know Your Meme.
Knowyourmeme.com, Literary Media Ltd. June 1st
2020 Web. October 1st 2020
• Stephen Spender, "My Parents“. New Collected
Poems, Faber. Wb. October 1st 2020

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