Moving through the silent crowd by Stephen Spender
Background on Stephen Spender:
• Born in 1909
• Experienced the World Wars so he was introduced to the idea of poverty and
life after war.
• His poems mainly focused on social injustice.
Stanza Analysis:
Stanza 1:
Moving through the silent crowd
Who stand behind dull cigarettes
Those men who idle in the road
I have the sense of falling light
Line One is the title. The repetition is meant to stick into reader’s mind. One would
not expect a crowd to be silent. Think of the connotations of crowd: a loud, rowdy
place filled with people. “Moving” is a verb and the gerundive version shows how it is
happening in the moment. This action in Line One which is emphasised as the verb
“moving” paints an image in the reader’s mind like something in a movie. The main
character is sifting through the crowd to see something or to reveal something that
everyone is looking at. In this poem, it would be to realise that humans are slotted
into the caste system (upper, lower, middle and working class) and due to these
classes, the way we interact with different human beings are heavily influenced and
bias based on our upbringing.
In Line 2, the word “dull” has connotations of being blunt or not sharp which
sometimes relates to intelligence. Later in the poem, it is clear that the poet is
speaking about homeless people and compares them to businessmen or the working
class that have the intelligence to have a job because they are “better men”. “Dull”
could also be interpreted as the men not being able to achieve something as simple
as lighting their cigarette hence, they cannot achieve something meaningful with
their lives. “Stand behind” gives the idea of hiding so the beggars are hiding away
from their potential, achieving something or away from the societal norms. Cigarettes
gives the idea of drugs or substance abuse, possibly staying in their mouth could be
the reason for their “failure” in life due to addiction.
Background on Stephen Spender:
• Born in 1909
• Experienced the World Wars so he was introduced to the idea of poverty and
life after war.
• His poems mainly focused on social injustice.
Stanza Analysis:
Stanza 1:
Moving through the silent crowd
Who stand behind dull cigarettes
Those men who idle in the road
I have the sense of falling light
Line One is the title. The repetition is meant to stick into reader’s mind. One would
not expect a crowd to be silent. Think of the connotations of crowd: a loud, rowdy
place filled with people. “Moving” is a verb and the gerundive version shows how it is
happening in the moment. This action in Line One which is emphasised as the verb
“moving” paints an image in the reader’s mind like something in a movie. The main
character is sifting through the crowd to see something or to reveal something that
everyone is looking at. In this poem, it would be to realise that humans are slotted
into the caste system (upper, lower, middle and working class) and due to these
classes, the way we interact with different human beings are heavily influenced and
bias based on our upbringing.
In Line 2, the word “dull” has connotations of being blunt or not sharp which
sometimes relates to intelligence. Later in the poem, it is clear that the poet is
speaking about homeless people and compares them to businessmen or the working
class that have the intelligence to have a job because they are “better men”. “Dull”
could also be interpreted as the men not being able to achieve something as simple
as lighting their cigarette hence, they cannot achieve something meaningful with
their lives. “Stand behind” gives the idea of hiding so the beggars are hiding away
from their potential, achieving something or away from the societal norms. Cigarettes
gives the idea of drugs or substance abuse, possibly staying in their mouth could be
the reason for their “failure” in life due to addiction.
