Introduction:
Sir Stephen Harold spender was an English poet, novelist, and essayist who concentrated on themes of social justice and the class struggle in his work, (February 28, 1909, London- July 16 1955). Stephen spender took a keen interest in politics and declared himself to be a socialist and pacifist. This poem is about a boy who longs to be part of a group of children who he looks up to. I think the poet is writing about himself because he uses a lot of words like 'my', 'me' and 'I'.
Analysis:
The fist line seems to blame the Parents of the situation, and only after finishing the poem, you understand that is was actually the parents fault.
In the first paragraph the poet introduces some of the things the children do. The poet writes about them throwing "Words like Stones", this indicates that the language would hurt him, it was insulting. He also writes about how they dress and take off their clothes. The children wear rags and 'torn clothes', these boys wore such torn and ragged clothes that he could actually see their thighs where the clothes were torn. "They ran in the street", as a middle class boy, his parents probably would not allow him to play in the streets. "And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams", these boys could go wherever they wanted, without parental supervision. This gives the idea that the children have a reckless nature, they are the lower class. This is a gang of kids that the author was not allowed to hang around, but he must have felt very lonely. He is quick to show the misery of their situation.
