Vocation (Poem) summary

“Vocation” is a thoughtful poem that presents the innocent dreams of a child who longs for freedom. The poet shows the poem through the eyes of a school-going child who observes working people in daily life and feels that their lives are more exciting than his own. The child is not rejecting school or family; rather, he is expressing a natural childhood desire to live without strict rules and timetables. The poem, therefore, becomes a gentle reflection on how children perceive adult life and how they wish to escape routine and restrictions.

The poem is divided into three stanzas. In each stanza, the child meets a different working person—a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman. Every meeting triggers a fresh wish in the child’s heart. The child sees the hawker in the morning while going to school. The hawker walks freely along the road, calling out loudly to sell bangles. To the child, the hawker’s life looks full of liberty. The hawker can choose his own path, stop wherever he wants, and move without anyone controlling his time. The child compares this with his own life. He must follow a fixed road to school, reach on time, listen to discipline, and return home at a fixed hour. He has rules about where he can go and how long he can stay out. Watching the hawker makes him wish, “I were a hawker,” because he imagines that he would enjoy spending the whole day shouting and roaming freely without being hurried or restricted.

In the second stanza, the child notices a gardener working in a garden. The gardener digs the soil with his spade, plants seeds, and works peacefully under the open sky. The child is fascinated not only by the gardener’s work but by the freedom connected to it. The gardener can get his clothes dirty with mud and dust and still no one scolds him. The child, however, must keep his clothes clean. If he stains them, he is likely to be scolded by his parents. The child also feels that the gardener’s work is joyful in its own way because he is close to nature, moving his hands in the soil, creating life through plants. To the child this seems more satisfying and free than sitting inside a classroom. So he wishes to be a gardener, believing that such a life would allow him to work as he pleases without being stopped or corrected all the time.

The third stanza describes night. When it becomes dark, the child is told by his mother to go to bed. He must sleep at the ordered time like a disciplined student. But through the window he sees a watchman walking up and down the street with a lantern. The watchman looks fearless and independent. He walks alone in silence, guiding himself through darkness. To the child, this seems adventurous. The watchman is not forced to go to bed early; he can stay awake and wander through quiet streets. The child feels that he too wants such freedom to stay up, explore the night, and not be controlled by bedtime rules. Therefore he wishes to become a watchman.

As we look at the three wishes together, we understand that the central theme of “Vocation” is a child’s longing for independence. The child imagines adult jobs as symbols of freedom. He does not fully understand the hardships behind these vocations. A hawker’s life is difficult and tiring, a gardener works hard in heat and cold, and a watchman spends lonely nights protecting others. But a child sees only the surface—the liberty to move, the absence of school discipline, and the lack of constant supervision. This makes the poem realistic and relatable, because every child at some stage feels restricted by rules and dreams of a freer life.

The poem also indirectly highlights how childhood innocence works. Children often romanticize what they see outside their own routine. They do not calculate responsibilities the way adults do. They simply respond to an emotional desire—to be free, playful, and in control of their own time. The poet does not criticize the child’s wishes. Instead, he presents them lovingly, showing that imagination and curiosity are part of growing up. The poem encourages readers to respect children’s feelings and understand their viewpoint rather than dismissing it as foolish.

In conclusion, “Vocation” is a gentle lesson about freedom and responsibility. It shows that children naturally crave independence, and they often think adult life is easier because it seems less controlled. At the same time, the poem makes us reflect that every vocation has its struggles though it may look attractive from outside. Thus the poem teaches empathy: adults should remember their own childhood wishes, and children should slowly learn that freedom comes with effort and duty. The poem remains memorable because of its simplicity and the truthful way it describes a child’s dreaming heart.