Crying: NCERT Class 5 English Poem (Marigold Unit 4)

etmantra22 Jul 20209 min read

This short, surprising poem tells children it is all right to cry, and that happiness often comes after the tears. It opens a gentle conversation about feelings, which many children find hard to talk about.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 5, unit 4. NCERT’s newer Class 5 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: Crying

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Feeling words: crying, happiness
Past tense that does not use -ed: weep and wept
That it is all right to let sad feelings out
Reading a poem that changes from sad to happy

What the poem is about

The poem says that crying only a little bit is no use. If you are sad, you should cry properly, until your pillow is soaked. After that you can jump in the shower and splash about, and then throw open your window.

If people ask what is going on, you can sing back that happiness was hiding in the last tear, and you have cried it out. The message is that it is healthy to let sad feelings out fully, because feeling better and happy often comes right after.

New words, with Hindi meanings

soaked: completely wet (हिंदी: भीगा हुआ)
pillow: the soft cushion you rest your head on in bed (हिंदी: तकिया)
shower: water that sprays down on you to wash (हिंदी: फव्वारा)
splash: to make water fly about noisily (हिंदी: छपछप करना)
throw open: to open something wide, quickly (हिंदी: पूरा खोल देना)
wept: cried (past of “weep”) (हिंदी: रोया)
happiness: the feeling of being happy (हिंदी: खुशी)

Explained in Hindi

If your child finds the English hard, watch this explanation of the poem and its word meanings in Hindi, then go back to the English video.

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What does the poem say about crying only a little bit?
What can you do after your pillow is soaked?
Where was happiness hiding, according to the poem?
What helps you feel better after you have been sad?

Answers for parents

It says crying only a little bit is no use. You should cry properly, until your pillow is soaked.
You can jump in the shower and splash about, and then throw open your window.
In the last tear.
For example: I feel better when I talk to my mother and then go out to play.

Grammar corner: Past tense without -ed (weep → wept)

Most action words add -ed for the past, but some change in a different way. Weep becomes wept, sleep becomes slept and keep becomes kept. The poem uses “wept”, which means cried.

The little boy wept when his kite tore.
After a good cry, I slept well.
I kept my wet pillow in the sun to dry.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The past of “weep” is ___.
Choose the right meaning: “soaked” means (a) very wet (b) very dry.
Say aloud one sentence about how you feel today: “I feel ___ because ___.”

Answers: 1. wept · 2. (a) very wet · 3. Sample: I feel happy because my friend is coming to play.

Try this

Make a “feelings and actions” game. Read the poem aloud and do the actions together: pretend to cry into a pillow, splash in the shower, throw open a window and sing the last line happily. Then sit together and let your child name one thing that makes them sad and one thing that makes them happy again.

Tip for parents

Talk about feelings in Hindi first: “तुम्हें कब रोना आता है? फिर अच्छा कैसे लगता है?” Then give the English words: sad, crying, happy, happiness. Let your child mix both languages freely; what matters is that they share the feeling, so praise them for talking.

Questions parents ask

What is the message of the poem Crying?

It is all right to cry, and it helps to let sad feelings out fully. After a good cry, happiness often comes back.

What does “happiness was hiding in the last tear” mean in Crying?

It means that once you have cried out all your sadness, you feel happy again, as if the happiness was waiting behind the tears.

Which book is the poem Crying from?

It is Unit 4 of NCERT’s older Marigold book for Class 5. The newer NCERT books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 5 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →