Working through Class 5 English Notes Chapter 9 Vocation Summary in English simplifies the understanding of long chapters.
Vocation Summary in English
Summary of Vocation Class 5
Vocation Summary
[1]
The poem “Vocation” is composed by “Rabindranath Tagore”. In this poem, he mentions a little boy who meets different working people while going to school and imagines their lives to be full of freedom and carefree.
The boy walks to school in the morning.
On his way, he sees a hawker crying ‘Bangles, crystal bangles’ every day. The hawker moves freely on the streets without any hurry. He doesn’t have a list of places where he has to go. He is not bounded by time; he can go to his home whenever he wants. The boy wishes to be a hawker, who has no fix time, no school to attend and no one to scold him for not coming back home on time. The hawker’s life seems full of freedom and very exciting to the boy.
[2]
When the boy is returning from school at four in the afternoon, he sees a gardener digging the ground. He is working in the soil with a spade. He enjoys working in his garden even when his clothes soils in mud; he doesn’t seem to mind. The boy notices no one orders him around or forces him to work all day in sun and rain. Infact, he does it willingly and happily.
The boy wishes to be a gardener; whom no one can command or control. He wants to freely spend his day digging in the garden and no one will stop him.
[3]
At night, the mother sends the boy to his bed. Through the window, he sees a watchman walking up and down on the dark and lonely streets with a lantern in his hand. The boy notices the street-lamp standing still like a giant with a red light on its head. The watchman is walking beside his shadow, swinging his lantern as if he never sleeps in night.
The little boy wishes to be a watchman who can roam on the streets with a lantern the whole night. He wants to be brave and independent like the watchman and walk freely on the roads with nobody to stop him.
Vocation Poem Class 5 Summary
The poem Vocation’ by Rabindranath Tagore shows a child’s wish to be free like the hawker, gardener and watchman he sees every day. He thinks their lives are easy and fun because they can do what they want. The poem shows the simple dreams of a child who wants freedom from rules.
Vocation Poem Stanza Wise Explanation
Stanza 1
When the gong sounds ten in the morning and
I walk to school by our lane,
Every day I meet the hawker crying, “Bangles,
crystal bangles!”
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no
road he must take, no place he must go to, no
time when he must come home.
I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in
the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”
Exp.
In the morning, when the clock strikes ten, the child leaves home to go to school. As he walks down the lane, he sees a hawker selling bangles. The hawker moves around freely without any hurry. He has no fixed path to follow, no set place where he must go and no time when he must return home.
The child feels that the hawker is very lucky because he has no restrictions or rules. He wishes he could also be like the hawker, spending the day on the road, calling out to people and enjoying that freedom.
Stanza 2
When at four in the afternoon I come
back from the school.
I can see through the gate of that
house the gardener digging the ground.
He does what he likes with his spade,
he soils his clothes with dust, nobody
takes him to task if he gets baked in the
sun or gets wet.
I wish I were a gardener digging away
at the garden with nobody to stop me
from digging.
Exp.
In the afternoon, when the child comes back from school at four o’clock, he notices a gardener working in the garden of a house. The gardener digs the ground with his spade as he likes. He doesn’t care if he gets dirty or if the sun burns him or the rain makes him wet. Nobody scolds or stops him.
The child admires this freedom. He wishes he were a gardener too so he could play and dig in the soil without anyone telling him what to do.
Stanza 3
Just as it gets dark in the evening and my
mother sends me to bed,
I can see through my open window the
watchman walking up and down.
The lane is dark and lonely and the
street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye
in its head.
The watchman swings his lantern and walks
with his shadow at his side and never once goes
to bed in his life.
I wish I were a watchman walking the streets
all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.
Exp.
In the evening, when it gets dark, the child’s mother sends him to bed. From his window, he sees a watchman walking up and down the lonely street. The street-lamp looks like a giant with a red eye. The watchman carries a lantern and walks bravely through the darkness, his shadow always beside him.
The child thinks the watchman never goes to bed and can stay outside all night. He feels it would be exciting to be the watchman, walking the dark streets and chasing shadows with a lantern.
Vocation Poem Word Meanings
- Vocation – a job or work that someone does, often something they feel called to do;
- Gong – a large metal disc that makes a loud sound when you hit it;
- Lane – a narrow road or path;
- Spade – a tool with a flat blade used for digging;
- Giant – something very big (like a huge person or thing);
- Lantern – a lamp with a cover that you can carry around to give light
(Page 105)
- Gong – Bell – घंटी
- Lane – Street/a narrow road – गली / संकीर्ण सड़क
- Hawker – A person who sells goods in the streets or going from place to place – फेरीवाला
- Bangles – Colourful round shaped ornaments worn on the wrist by women – चूड़ियाँ
- Crystal – Shiny and made of glass – कांच से बना हुआ
(Page 106)
- Gardener – A person who takes care of the plants in the garden – माली
- Dig – To move soil using a tool – खोदना
- Spade – A tool used to dig soil made of strong metal blades – फावड़ा
- Baked – Having sunburn due to exposure to the sunlight for a long – सूरज के प्रकाश के लंबे समय तक संपर्क में रहने के कारण सनबर्न होना
(Page 107)
- Watchman – A person who guards the property – चौकीदार
- Shadow – A dark shape that appears on the ground or wall when something blocks light – छाया
- Lantern – A portable light source – लालटेन