NCERT Solutions Class 6 English (Honeysuckle) Poem – 7 Vocation

NCERT Solutions Class 6 English (Honeysuckle)

The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 6 English (Poetry) (Honeysuckle) Chapter – 8 Vocation has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.

Poem – 7
(Vocation)

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
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.

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.
  – RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Working With 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?
Answer – The speaker in this poem is a school-going child. Every day he happens to meet the hawker selling bangles, the gardener digging away at the garden, and the watchman walking the street all night.

(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 little child is innocent. He watches the people keenly around him. He is sick of checks on his movement. He wants to enjoy the same freedom as do the hawker, the gardener, and the watchman. They do what they like. The child says:

1. I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road.
2. I wish I were a gardener, digging away at the garden.
3. I wish I were a watchman walking the street all night.

(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 –