(a) The children referred to here are those who study in an elementary school in a slum.
(b) Their world comprises of only what they are able to see from the window of their classroom. The view is full of despair where their future seems blurred. They are confined to the narrow streets of the slum, far away from the open sky and rivers.
(c) Unlike other children, the children in the slums have a future that is hopeless and it seems as if it is painted with a fog. They lack the basic necessities of life like proper food, clothing, shelter and health benefits.
Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow:
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits.
(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) Why are we 'despondent'?
(c) What removes 'the pall from our dark spirits'?
