Vocation
by Rabindranath Tagore
The Poem:
When the gong sounds ten in the morning and
I walk to school by our lane,
Everyday 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 street-lamp stand 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.
Summary of the Poem:
A persona refers to the narrator or speaker of a poem, other than the poet. Here, in this poem, the poetic persona is a little child and he states his wishes in the three stanzas of this poem.
In the first stanza, the persona says that he meets the hawker selling crystal bangles at ten in the morning when he goes to school. The hawker has no hurry and he has no fixed path or time to travel unlike the persona. So, the persona wants to become a hawker to spend his day in the road selling crystal bangles.
In the second stanza, the persona returns home from school at four in the afternoon. He sees the gardener of the neighbouring house digging the ground with his spade. The gardener makes his clothes dirty with mud and sweat. Nobody scolds him for doing so. The persona wishes to be the gardener and keep digging the ground with nobody to stop him.
In the third or last stanza, the mother of the persona sends him to bed in the evening. Then he can see the watchman walking up and down the dark and lonely street through his window. The street lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head. The watchman walks swinging his lantern taking his shadow along his side. He never goes to bed. The persona also wishes to become a watchman and walk through the street in the night chasing his shadow with his lantern.
1. Read these lines and answer the questions that follow.
a. Everyday I meet the hawker crying,
'Bangles, crystal bangles!'
There is nothing to hurry him on,
i. At what time did the persona meet the hawker everyday?
= The persona met the hawker at ten in the morning when he walk to school by their lane.
ii. Why do you think the hawker was not in a hurry?
= I think the hawker was not in a hurry as he had no fixed road to take for him. He could roam about any way to sell his bangles. He had fixed place to go. Above all, he had no fixed time to return home.
iii. Was the persona in a hurry? How do you know?
= Yes the persona was in a hurry as he had to reach his school before a fixed time.
b. 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. Who was the persona talking about?
= The persona was talking about the gardener of that house.
ii. Explain the expression 'baked in the sun'.
= The gardener works in the sun. He gets the direct heat of the sun on his body all day long. This fact has been explained by the expression 'baked in the sun'.
iii. Did the persona envy or pity the person he/she was speaking about? Give a reason for your answer.
= The persona was somehow envious of the gardener as he could do whatever he wish with his spade and soil his clothes with dust. Nobody scolded him for all those things. The persona also wanted to be a gardener and digging away the garden with nobody to stop him.
c. Just as it gets dark in the evening
and my mother sends me to bed,
I can see through my open window
watchman walking up and down.
i. What could he see from his window?
= He could see the watchman walking up and down from his open window.
ii. Do you think the persona wanted to go to bed? Why?
= The persona did not want to go to bed as he was busy to watch outside his window and expressed his wish to be a watchman.
iii. What do you think the persona felt about the watchman's job?
= The persona found the watchman's job very exciting and adventurous. He compared the street-lamps with a giant with red eye in its head. He walked up and down the dark and lonely lane. He swung his lantern and walked with his shadow at his side. He never went to bed at night.
2. What are the different professions mentioned in the poem? Why do you think the persona would like to take up one of these, instead of going to school?
= The different profession mentioned in the poem are - i) hawker; ii) gardener; and iii) watchman.
The persona is a school-going child. It is the characteristic of the mind of a school-going child to imagine and to act like elders. They want to get grown up and get themselves involved in the tasks of the elders. A child's mind does not want to be confined in the routine of the school. They want to be free and explore the unknown and unseen. I think these are the reason the persona wanted to take up one of those professions.
3. A perspective is a point of view. The persona envied the people he met every day. If these people were to describe the persona's life from their perspective, what would they say?
= If the hawker, gardener and the watchman were to describe the persona's life from their perspective, they would have took pity on the boy's mental condition as he wants to be like them. According to them, the boy has a safe and secured life with all basic needs of a growing child. They would think that he is lucky to get to go to school and getting all those cosiness of daily life. On the other hand, they have to work hard in the sun and awaking at night to earn their livelihood.
About the Poet:
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a famous Indian educator and poet. He wrote and composed the national anthems of two countries - India and Bangladesh. He started writing poems at the age of eight. In 1901, he moved to Santiniketan to start a school, which is now the famous Visva-Bharati University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his collection of poems, Gitanjali, in 1913.