Vocation Class 6 Question Answers and Summary

Here is a new blog post from Melody English for Class 6th students of JKBOSE and Honeysuckle English for students of NCERT. Today, in this post I will discuss Vocation Class 6 Question Answers and Summary. The poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore.

You will find Difficult Words Meanings, a Summary of the poem, Question Answers to the poem Vocation and a Line by Line explanation of the poem Vocation in this post. In my previous post, you have read about Question Answers and a Summary of the Poem The Wonderful Words.  So, let’s not waste any more time and get started with today’s post.

Vocation Class 6 Question Answers and Summary

Introduction

The poem “Vocation” describes the longings and wishes of the child. He feels that the person working around him are free to do what they like and he also wishes to be like them. He is unaware of the hardships they face in their daily routines.

Vocation Class 6 Poem Text (By Rabindranath Tagore)

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!”

When at four in the afternoon, I come back from
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.

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 streetlamp
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 street
all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.

Vocation Class 6 Poem Word Meanings

Vocation Class 6 Poem Summary in English

The poem Vocation is written by Rabindranath Tagore and gives voice to the feelings of a schoolboy. It describes the wishes and aspirations of a child.

The child goes to school at ten o’clock in the morning. He sets out on foot to school when the clock strikes ten. While going to school he saw a hawker, who sells bangles on the way. The child likes his free way of life. The hawker was not in a hurry and was free to move from one place to another at his own will. The hawker can follow any road and return home at any time. There was no restriction on him and has no fixed time to do anything. The child wishes to be a hawker to enjoy the freedom of movement on the road.

The child returns from school at 4 p.m. He saw a gardener outside the house. The gardener was digging the ground with his spade. The child feels that he is also a free man and can do whatever he wants with his spade. He can make his clothes dirty with soil, he can work under the hot sun or gets wet. Nobody can scold him for that. The child wants to be like him so that nobody can punish him for digging the ground. He wanted to play with soil.

In the evening, when it gets dark the child’s mother sends him to bed for sleep. The child saw a watchman through his window. He was walking up and down the dark and lonely road. There is nobody to stop the watchman. The watchman took his lantern and walked along with his shadow. The watchman never goes to bed. The child wanted to be a watchman, walking the street all night without any restriction.

Vocation Class 6 Poem Summary in Hindi

वोकेशन कविता रवींद्रनाथ टैगोर द्वारा लिखी गई है जिसमें एक स्कूली लड़के की भावनाओं को आवाज दी गई है। यह एक बच्चे की इच्छाओं और आकांक्षाओं का वर्णन करता है।

बच्चा सुबह दस बजे स्कूल जाता है। घड़ी के दस बजते ही वह पैदल स्कूल जाता है। स्कूल जाते समय उसे रास्ते में एक फेरीवाला दिखाई दिया, जो चूड़ियाँ बेचता है। बच्चा उसके स्वतंत्र जीवन को पसंद करता है। फेरीवाला जल्दी में नहीं था और अपनी इच्छा से एक स्थान से दूसरे स्थान पर जाने के लिए स्वतंत्र था। फेरीवाला किसी भी सड़क का अनुसरण कर सकता है और किसी भी समय घर लौट सकता है। उस पर कोई प्रतिबंध नहीं था और कुछ भी करने का कोई निश्चित समय नहीं था। बच्चा सड़क पर आवाजाही की स्वतंत्रता का आनंद लेने के लिए एक फेरीवाला बनना चाहता है।

बच्चा दोपहर चार बजे स्कूल से लौटता है। उसने घर के बाहर एक माली को देखा। माली अपनी कुदाल से जमीन खोद रहा था। बच्चे को लगता है कि वह भी आजाद आदमी है और अपनी कुदाल से जो चाहे कर सकता है। वह अपने कपड़ों को मिट्टी से गंदा कर सकता है, वह गर्म बेटे के नीचे काम कर सकता है या भीग सकता है। उसके लिए कोई उसे डांट नहीं सकता। बच्चा उसके जैसा बनना चाहता है, ताकि कोई उसे जमीन खोदने की सजा न दे सके। वह मिट्टी से भुगतान करना चाहता था।

शाम को जब अंधेरा हो जाता है तो बच्चे की मां उसे सोने के लिए भेज देती है। बच्चे ने अपनी खिड़की से एक चौकीदार को देखा। वह अंधेरी और सुनसान सड़क पर ऊपर-नीचे चल रहा था। चौकीदार को रोकने वाला कोई नहीं है। चौकीदार अपनी लालटेन लेकर अपनी परछाई के साथ चल दिया। चौकीदार कभी सोने नहीं जाता। बच्चा बिना किसी रोक-टोक के पूरी रात सड़क पर घूमते हुए चौकीदार बनना चाहता है।

Theme of the Poem Vocation

The theme of the poem Vocation is a child’s wish for freedom. He does not like to follow strict rules at home as well as in school. He is punished by his parents and teachers when he makes a mistake. He is bored of all this.

So, when he sees the hawker, gardener and watchman doing their work freely, he desires to be like them as he does not know their harsh reality.

But the poem also tells us how young children are treated at home and in schools. The poet explains how a child is psychologically affected by harsh treatment. So, this poem is a lesson for parents and teachers who remain strict toward their children.

Rhyme Scheme of the Poem Vocation

The rhyme scheme in the first four lines of the poem follows the ABCC scheme. The rhyme scheme of the poem varies throughout the complete text of the poem.

Thinking About the Poem

1. Your partner and you may now be able to answer these questions.

i) Who is the speaker in the poem? Who are the people the speaker meets? What are they doing?

Ans. The poet Rabindranath Tagore as a child is the speaker of the poem. The speaker meets a street hawker, a gardener and a night watchman. The hawker was selling bangles in the street. The gardener was digging the ground with his spade and a night watchman was moving up and down the street with a lantern in his hand. He is guarding the houses on the street.

ii) What wishes do the child in the poem make? Why does the child want to be a hawker? a gardener, or a watchman? Pick out the lines in each stanza which tell this.

Ans. The child wishes to be a hawker, a gardener and a night watchman. The child wants to be a hawker so that to spend all day on the road crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles”. He wants to be a gardener so that nobody could stop him from digging the ground. He wants to be a watchman, so that he could walk the street all night, chasing the shadows with his lantern. The following lines from each stanza tell this:

I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”

I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody to stop me from digging.

I wish I were a watchman walking the street all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.

iii) From the way the child envies the hawker, the gardener and the watchman, we can guess that there are many things the child must do, or must not do.

Make a list of the do’s and don’ts. The first line is done for you.

The child must do                   The child must not do

Come home at a fixed time     Get his clothes dirty in the dust

_________________                _________________

_________________                _________________

_________________                _________________

_________________                _________________

_________________                _________________

_________________                _________________

Ans.

The child must do The child must not do

Come home at a fixed time     Get his clothes dirty in the dust

Get up early in the morning      Wander in the street like a hawker

Go to school                              Be late for home

Go to bed early                         Play under the hot sun

Avoid sun and getting wet        Be late for school

Play games                               Go out when it is dark

Do his homework properly       Sleep early in the evening

Now add to the list your complaints about things you have to do or you must not do.

Ans.

I must	I must not
Wake up early in the morning	Get late for school
Take bath regularly	Shirk away from doing my homework
Get ready for school	Waste my time wandering freely
Reach school on time	Disobey my parents and elders
Learn my lessons	Watch TV for late-night
Obey my teachers, elders and parents	Disturb others
Reach home on time	Make fun of others
Sleep early in the night	Harm my pets

iv) Like the child in the poem, you perhaps have your wishes for yourself. Talk to your friend, using “I wish I were…”

Ans. I wish I were a bird flying in the sky.

I wish I were a millionaire to buy anything

I wish I were an actor acting in movies.

2. Find out the different kinds of work done by the people in your neighbourhood. Make different cards for different kinds of work. You can make the card colourful with pictures of the people doing the work.

Ans. The different kinds of work done by people in our neighbourhood are:

1. Sweeper	5. Physician	9. Coolie
2. Shopkeeper	6. Mason	10. Electrician
3. Plumber	7. Labourer	11. T.V mechanics
4. Watchman	8. Fisherman	12. Singer

Vocation Poem Class 6 Line by Line 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!”

Explanation: In these lines, the child said that when the bell makes a sound at 10’o clock in the morning he walks to his school by the lane every day. On his way he would a saw street vendor crying loudly “Bangles, crystal bangles!” to sell his bangles.

Stanza 2

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!”

Explanation: The child said that the street vendor was in no hurry to sell his things or to reach anywhere. There were no fixed paths for him to follow or fixed places to visit. He can go anywhere and follow any path, unlike the child who has to reach school on time and come back home following a fixed path. The child feels that the street vendor has full freedom and owing to this he wished to be a street vendor crying and selling the goods in the streets as the street vendor does.

Stanza 3

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.

Explanation: In these lines, the child said when he returns from school at 4’o clock in the evening he used to see through the gate of his house a gardener digging the ground in the garden.

Stanza 4

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.

Explanation: The child in the line of this stanza said that gardener was free to do what he likes with his spade. He said that the gardener was free to make his clothes dirty with soil. There was no one to scold or punish him he spent hours in the hot sunlight or gets wet in the rain. Looking at the freedom of the gardener, the child wished to be a gardener to do the things of his choice.

Stanza 5

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 streetlamp
stands like a giant with one red eye in
its head.

Explanation: In these lines, the child said that at the night when his mother sends him to sleep, he used to peep through the open window of his room and notice the security watchman walking up and down the dark and lonely street. There was a streetlamp which appears to him like a giant having one red eye in its head.

Stanza 6

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 street
all night, chasing the shadows with my
lantern.

Explanation: In these lines’ the child said that while the watchman walks up and down the street, he swings his lamp from one side to side. He is always accompanied by his shadow which is seen at his when he walks in the street. The child feels that the watchman had never slept at night all his life. The child likes to walk in the streets like the watchman and so wished to be the watchman chasing his shadow with the lamp in his hand.

That’s all we have about Vocation Class 6 Question Answers and Summary. Hope you got your answers. Do share your views about this post in the comment section below: