“My Parents” Introduction

• 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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

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

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

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

  

  

  

  

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“My Parents” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  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

  

  

  

  

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  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

  

  

  

  

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  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

  

  

  

  

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  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