Vocation

Chapter Summary

The poem ‘Vocation’ talks about a boy, and the boy here is presented as a great observer. He observes people in his surroundings when he is going to school or the market. The boy curiously looks at those people as well as their workings and he wishes to get that taste of free just like those people. This poem is presented in the textbook Honeycomb and it is written by the famous poet Rabindranath Tagore.

The child meets with the gardeners, hawkers, as well as a watchman when he is going to school. This little boy describes those people and added that the watchman takes acre at the home at the time of night. He also added information on the hawker that they mainly sell the “bangles. The work of the gardener here is to dig the soil as well as take care of the plants.

This little boy becomes jealous of those men and to him; they are living a free life with extreme freedom while he is confined at his home. This boy goes to school and every day he met the hawker who is busy selling bangles. This tiny boy becomes jealous of this hawker because he is able to choose any road he likes and there is no time fixed for returning home to the hawker. That is the reason the boy wishes to become a hawker.

He also observes the gardener and it is from his house’s gate. He noticed that the gardener is continuously digging the ground and his clothes are full of soil and mud. There is no person who forbids him to dig around or soil his clothes. These freedoms of the gardener make the child towards the aspiration of a gardener. The time of night came and the boy shows from his wide window the watchman.

The watchman is moving up and down the lane and no one forces the watchman to go to bed as it is night. This freedom of the watchman to wonder at night increases his urge to become a watchman.

Who is the speaker in the poem and Who are the people the speaker meets?

The little boy is the speaker of the famous poem Vocation. Here, he is presented as a school-going boy having a curious mind.

The speaker in this poem meets three people when he is on his way to school or at the time of returning from school. Firstly, he meets a hawker and then he meets a gardener as well as lastly he meets a watchman.

Most importantly it is seen that they performing their jobs. The hawker here is busy selling the bangles; the gardener is also busy with his work of digging as well as planting trees. The watchman is doing his job of moving up as well as down the lane for the protection of people. According to the little child, all the people are enjoying their freedom while he is bounded by the rules and limitations.

What does the child wish in the poem? Why does the child want to be a hawker, a gardener, or a watchman?

The thought of the child in the poem Vocation proves that he is a freedom-lover. He goes to school and on his way in going and returning he met many people like hawker, gardener, and watchman. The little boy looks at them and wishes to become a hawker, gardener, as well as a watchman.

The boy thinks if he was a hawker then he can spend his day on the roads and nobody could stop him. He thinks in this way because to him the hawkers do not have any hurry to return home. His next wish is to become a gardener and the reason for this is that the gardener is able to dig the soil and there is nobody to stop him. The boy also notices that the gardeners can dirt his clothes and nobody will forbid him to do that.

Lastly, he expresses his feeling to become a watchman so that he could be able to walk around the streets that are lonely as well as dark. The freedom of the watchman makes the boy jealous because nobody stops him to wander at night and tells him to go to bed.

The lines are -

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.

From the way the child envies the hawker, the gardener and the watchman, make a list of the do’s and don’ts that the child doesn’t like.

This poem gives the description that the child envies the hawker, the gardener as well as the watchman. This matter proves that there are some things, which the child must have to do as well as some must not do and they are presented below:

The child must have to do	The child must not have to do
He has to return home at a fixed time.	He is not allowed to make his clothes dirty.
He has to go to bed at a proper time or when it becomes dark.	He must not have to run in the sun as well as get wet.
The child must have to go to school every day.	He is not allowed to walk on the lonely as well as dark streets when it is night.

FAQs

Q1. Who is the author of the poem Vocation?

Ans. The world-famous poet as well as novelist, Rabindranath Tagore is considered the author of the poem Vocation.

Q2. What is the main theme of the poem Vocation?

Ans. The poem has a theme and it describes the desire of the child for freedom. It also presents that he is bounded by strict rules at home. He has fixed the timings for returning from school, going to bed as well as not running into the sun.

Q3. Is the hawker in the poem has any hurry?

Ans. The hawker in the poem has no hurry and the reason is that he had no fixed roads to go. There is no specific time for returning home for the hawker and he is free to go wherever he wants to go.