Contents
Class 8 English Chapter 5 Poem
The School Boy Notes
| Text Book | NCERT |
| Class | Class 8 |
| Subject | English |
| Book Name | Honeydew |
| Chapter Name | The School Boy |
| Category | Class 8 English |
Summary of The School Boy Poem
In this poem, a school boy speaks. He is an unhappy child but his childhood is crushed in the name of learning and teaching. The boy likes the morning and he is pleased to see the trees and the birds. The distant sound of the huntsman’s horn is pleasant. He wants to sing with the skylark. In brief the nature seems to offer a sweet company. However, his morning hours pass unhappily. He lives a worrisome life in the school. Neither the books nor the teacher’s lecture interest him. The pleasure of childhood is in being free and happy like a bird. But a child is put in the school just as a bird is put in the cage. So the child is as unhappy as a caged bird.
The parents should understand their fault. Depriving the child of joy and freedom means depriving the world of its spring. It is like nipping the buds and flowers from the plants. The world is a sorrowful place without happy childhood. In the absence of a happy childhood, we shall have winter of sorrow. The summer (heat) of joy will never be there.
Stanza 1
I love to rise in a Summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O ! what sweet company.
I like to rise from my bed in a summer morning. I find the birds singing on every tree. In the distance I hear the sound of a horn blown by a hunter. I like to sing with the skylark. The morning seems to be full of pleasant company.
Stanza 2
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away :
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.
One thing is a great kill-joy on a summer morning. It is going to school. In the school a tired and unfeeling teacher teaches the young children. So the school boys spend their day in moans and distress.
Stanza 3
Ah ! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour.
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.
In the school, sometimes the boy sits exhausted in the class. He spends many worrisome hours in this manner. He cannot enjoy reading his books. He is tired and the dull shower of words fails to teach him.
Stanza 4
How can the bird that is born for joy,
Sit in a cage and sing.
How can a child when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring.
A bird is born to sing happily. However, it cannot do so when it is in a cage. In the same way a fearful child cannot feel happy. A caged bird droops its tender wings and forgets to fly. In the same manner, the school boy forgets to be happy. The fresh spring of joy dries up inside.
Stanza 5
O! Father and Mother, if buds are nip’d,
And blossoms blown away,
And if the tender plants are strip‘d
Of their joy in the springing day,
By sorrow and cares dismay,
How shall the summer arise in joy,
Or the summer fruits appear?
Parents must realise that their children are like tender plants. What will happen if early in the morning a plant’s buds are plucked and the flowers blown away? No doubt, it will be depriving the plant of all its joys at the sprouting stage. The same thing happens with a school boy when sorrows and cares dishearten him. In that case (when the plants are deprived of buds and flowers) how shall we ever find the joy of summer? Now, if there will be no summer flowers, there will be no fruits either.
Word Meanings
| Word | Meaning |
| I love to rise | I am happy to get up |
| huntsman | hunter |
| winds | sounds by blowing |
| horn | a sound instrument |
| drives all the joy away | destroys all happiness |
| cruel | unfeeling |
| outworn | exhausted |
| sighing | moaning |
| dismay | disappointment |
| drooping | to hang down as from exhaustion |
| anxious | worried |
| bower | arbour |
| worn | expressed |
| dreary | cheerless |
| shower | shouting of words in rapid succession |
| annoy | bother |
| droop | hang down |
| tender | soft |
| youthful | young |
| buds | shoots |
| nip’d | plucked |
| blossoms | flowers |
| blown away | taken away by the wind |
| tender | delicate |
| strip’d | deprived |
| springing day | early morning |
| arise | emerge |
Thnxxx