Question

"On their slag heap, these children
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel,
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slum as big as doom."

1 What is the condition of poverty in the slum?
2 Explain "So blot their maps with slums as big as doom".
3 Explain "Wear skins peeped through by bones".
4 What figure of speech is used in the third line of the extract?

Answer 1

1. The slums are choked with garbage and smoke. The condition of poverty in the slums is extreme as is evident from the condition of the dilapidated school there and the malnourished and emaciated bodies of the slum children.
2. The maps put up on the walls show different countries around the world: they are a window to the outside world. But, they have no meaning as the lives of the slum children are destined for doom or death: a symbol of their bleak existence and poor future.
3. Their bones peep through whatever they wear as they are malnourished and their emaciated bodies are more bones than flesh!
4. The figure of speech used in the third line is simile.