"My Parents," by 20th-century British poet Stephen Spender, appears in Spender's 1933 volume Poems. The poem's speaker reflects on his unhappy boyhood. He was born to middle- or upper-class parents who tried to keep him away from "rough boys" (working-class kids), fearing they'd treat him badly. But he couldn't avoid these boys altogether, and their bullying left him with lasting trauma. The poem explores tribalism and the class divide, implicitly questioning whether the speaker's parents took the right approach—or whether, in trying to shelter him, they left him more vulnerable.

• Read the full text of “My Parents”

• “My Parents” Summary

• “My Parents” Themes

  • 

    Childhood and Class Divisions

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12
  • 

    Bullying and Parenting

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “My Parents”

  • Lines 1-4

    My parents kept ...
    ... the country streams.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 5-8

    I feared more ...
    ... on the road.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 9-12

    They were lithe, ...
    ... they never smiled.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• “My Parents” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “who were rough / Who threw words like stones”
    • Lines 5-6: “their muscles like iron / Their jerking hands”
    • Line 9: “They were lithe, they sprang out behind hedges”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4: “street / And”
    • Lines 7-8: “boys / Who”
    • Lines 9-10: “hedges / Like”
    • Lines 10-11: “mud / While”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “who”
    • Line 2: “Who”
    • Line 5: “I feared,” “their”
    • Line 6: “Their,” “their”
    • Line 7: “I feared”
    • Line 9: “They,” “they”
    • Line 10: “They”
    • Line 11: “smile”
    • Line 12: “smiled”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “My parents kept me from children who were rough / Who threw words like stones”
    • Line 5: “I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron”
    • Lines 9-10: “they sprang out behind hedges / Like dogs to bark at my world.”

• “My Parents” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Rough
  • Rags
  • Salt coarse
  • Lisp
  • Lithe
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “My parents kept me from children who were rough”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “My Parents”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “My Parents” Speaker

• “My Parents” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “My Parents”

• More “My Parents” Resources

  • External Resources

    • More on Stephen Spender — Dive into a valuable resource on Spender's life and work.

    • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to Stephen Spender read "My Parents" and other poems. 

    • Spender Remembered — Listen to Spender's son Matthew reflect on his father's life.

    • Spender and the "Auden Group" — Background on the group of poets with whom Spender was closely associated.

    • Spender's Desert Island Discs — Check out the poet's selection of his favorite pieces of music, and explanations of what they meant to him.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Stephen Spender

    • An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum

Cite This Page