Access to the 6th Class English Government Textbook Answers Honeysuckle 7th Poem Vocation Questions and Answers are aligned with the curriculum standards.
Vocation AP 6th Class English Honeysuckle 7th Poem Questions and Answers
Working with the Poem :
Question 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?
Answer:
The speaker is a small school going boy. He meets a bangle hawker, a gardener and a watchman in this poem.
The hawker is selling bangles on the street. The gardener is digging in the garden. The watchman is walking at night through the street.
ii) What wishes does 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 us this.
Answer:
The child wishes to be a hawker, a gardener and a watchman. He is in fact not happy with the rules imposed on him by his parents. He wants to be free from his routine life of going to school, going to bed etc. He thinks that the hawker, the gardener and the watchman are enjoying full freedom. They live a happy life unlike him.
iii) From the way the child envies the hawker, the gardener and the watchman, we can guess that there are many things the child has to do, or must not do. Make a list of the do’s and don’ts that the child doesn’t like. The first line is done for you.
Now add to the list your own complaints about the things you have to do, or must not do.
Answer:
| The child must | The child must not |
| 1) wake up early and get ready to go to school. | 1) stay on bed late in the morning. |
| 2) eat the breakfast that his parents give. | 2) ask for the breakfast he needs. |
| 3) prepare for school exams. | 3) keep away from exams. |
| 4) come back home straight from school. | 4) go idle. |
| 5) keep himself tidy and neat. | 5) keep himself dirty. |
| 6) keep silent in class and be friendly with others. | 6) quarrel with others. |
iv) Like the child in the poem, you perhaps have your own wishes for yourself. Talk to your friend, using “I wish I were…”
Answer:
(Student’s activity)
Question 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 persons doing the work.
Answer:
(Student’s activity)
Vocation Poem Summary in English
Rabindranath Tagore’s poem “Vocation” is about a young innocent child. He speaks about his wishes and aspirations. The child says that every day at 10 AM , when the school bell starts ringing, he walks to school. On his way to school, he comes across a hawker crying out ‘Bangles, crystal bangles’.
The child feels that the hawker has no hurry like him to go to school. Unlike the hawker, the child is forced to go to school. According to the child, the hawker is a free bird. Therefore the child thinks that he were a hawker, he too would enjoy selling bangles.
The child returns home from school at four in the afternoon. He meets a gardener digging in the garden of a nearby house. The gardener’s clothes have been dirty and he keeps working in the sun and in the rain. The child feels that nobody forces the gardener to do the work. The gardener is free to do whatever he wants to do. Therefore, the child wishes if he were a gardener, he would go on digging without being stopped.
At night, the mother sends him to bed. While on bed, the child finds the watchman walking up and down the street. The street is dark, but there is a street lamp with one red light. The watchman keeps moving with a lantern in his hand. The child feels that the watchman never goes to bed like him. Therefore, the child wishes if he were a watchman, he would walk the street throughout the night.
Tagore explores the child’s hidden desires through this poem. Children are normally either innocent or foolish to think that everybody around them is free and relaxed except them. While all are enjoying themselves, he is forced to go to school, return home and go to bed every day.
Words – Meanings :
- gong = bell
- lane = street
- hawker = vendor
- crystal = glass
- takes him to task = scolds
- hurry (v) = to make somebody to do something more quickly
- dig (v) = to make a hole in the ground using a tool or a machine
- spade = a a tool to dig
- baked = very hot
- lantern = lamp
- watchman = a man whose job is to do guard a building
- giant = a very large person who is often cruel and stupid
- swings = moves
- chase (v) = to drive or run after something in order to catch it
- ground = earth