Travel: NCERT Class 7 English Poem (Poorvi)

etmantra3 Nov 20266 min read

Have you ever heard a train whistle from far away and wished you were on it? In this short, musical poem, the speaker hears and imagines trains all day and all night, and she would happily take any of them. Children enjoy its sounds and pictures, and they learn rhyme, imagery and many lively words for sounds.

Open now: the CALP Class 7 English course (Poorvi)
Every chapter of Poorvi, NCERT’s new Class 7 book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, listening, grammar, speaking and writing with feedback. ₹1,599 for the whole year, and “Start here” and the first chapter’s notes are free to try.
See the free lessons and enrol →

From NCERT’s new English book Poorvi for Class 7, unit “Travel and Adventure”. Unit 4.

What your child learns

Reading a poem aloud with rhythm, and finding its rhyme scheme (ABAB)
Imagery and personification: pictures and sounds made with words
Words for different sounds: shrieking, yelling, hollering, wailing, bawling, whimpering
Saying the hard 'c' (cake) and the soft 'c' (city, cinders), and writing a diamante poem

What the poem is about

The poem has three stanzas. The railway line is far from the speaker's home, and the day is noisy with people talking. Still, every time a train passes, she hears its whistle. At night everything is quiet and people are sleeping and dreaming, yet when a train passes she seems to see its red sparks in the sky and hear its engine puffing steam. The train is never really out of her mind.

In the last stanza she says she loves the friends she has and could not find better ones. Even so, she would take any train at all, wherever it was going. The poem is about the pull of travel and adventure: a happy person can still long to see new places. The poet uses rhyme (the pattern ABAB), repetition and sound and sight pictures to make us feel her excitement.

New words, with Hindi meanings

railroad: a railway line; the track that trains run on (हिंदी: रेल की पटरी)
whistle: a high, sharp sound, like the one a train makes (हिंदी: सीटी)
shrieking: making a loud, high, sharp cry (हिंदी: चीखना)
cinders: small pieces of burnt coal or wood that may still glow (हिंदी: चिंगारियाँ, अंगारे)
steaming: giving out steam (hot water vapour) (हिंदी: भाप छोड़ना)
still: quiet and calm, without movement or noise (हिंदी: शांत)
imagery: words that make pictures, sounds or feelings in the mind (हिंदी: बिंब, शब्द-चित्र)
personify: to describe a thing as if it were a person or animal (हिंदी: मानवीकरण करना)
adventure: an exciting, unusual experience or journey (हिंदी: रोमांच, साहसिक यात्रा)
destination: the place someone is travelling to (हिंदी: मंज़िल)

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.

Where is the railroad track, and what does the speaker hear during the day?
What does the speaker see and hear at night when a train goes by?
Why does the poet keep repeating the idea that no train goes by without her noticing it?
The speaker loves her friends. Why would she still take any train, no matter where it goes?
Have you ever been on a train journey, or where would you like to go by train? What would you enjoy most?

Answers for parents

The track is miles away from her. The day is noisy with voices, yet she hears the shrieking whistle of every train that passes.
She sees red cinders (sparks) glowing in the sky and hears the engine steaming, even though the night is quiet.
It shows how fascinated she is by trains. They are always on her mind, by day and by night.
She is happy with her friends, but trains stand for adventure and new places. Her wish to travel and explore is very strong.
For example: I went by train from Lucknow to Delhi with my family. I enjoyed looking out of the window at the fields and eating snacks from the pantry.

Grammar corner: Words for different sounds

English has special words for different kinds of sounds. The poem uses 'shrieking' for a train whistle's high, sharp sound. Others: yelling (shouting in anger), screaming (crying out in fear or excitement), hollering (calling out casually), wailing (crying with sorrow), bawling (crying loudly without stopping) and whimpering (crying softly).

The vendor at the station was hollering, 'Chai, garam chai!'
A baby on the train was bawling until her mother gave her milk.
The brakes made a screeching sound as the train stopped.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank with the right sound word (whimpering, yelling, wailing): The angry man was ___ at the driver.
Find the pairs of rhyming words in the first stanza of the poem. What is the rhyme scheme?
Say these words aloud and sort them into hard 'c' (/k/) and soft 'c' (/s/): cake, city, uncle, cinders, cable, receive.

Answers: 1. yelling · 2. away – day, speaking – shrieking. The rhyme scheme is ABAB. · 3. Hard c: cake, uncle, cable. Soft c: city, cinders, receive.

Try this

Play 'Sound detective'. Sit quietly for one minute with your eyes closed and listen to the sounds around you: traffic, a pressure cooker, birds, people talking. Then name each sound in English with a sound word, such as 'the cooker is whistling' or 'a child is yelling'. Next, pretend you are on a train: one person makes a train sound and the other must describe it with a word from the poem (whistle, shrieking, steaming).

Tip for parents

Ask your child in Hindi first: 'अगर तुम किसी भी ट्रेन में बैठ सकते, तो कहाँ जाते? रास्ते में क्या देखते और सुनते?' Let them answer in Hindi or a mix of Hindi and English, then help them say one or two lines in English, such as 'I would go to Darjeeling. I would hear the train whistle in the hills.' Praise every try, and read the poem aloud together, enjoying its rhythm.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Travel about?

It is about a speaker who hears and imagines trains passing by day and night, even though the railroad is miles away. She loves her friends, but she longs to travel and would take any train, wherever it was going. The poem is by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

What is the rhyme scheme of the poem Travel?

The rhyme scheme is ABAB in each stanza. For example, in the first stanza 'away' rhymes with 'day' and 'speaking' rhymes with 'shrieking'.

Is Travel in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is Chapter 11 of NCERT's new Poorvi book for Class 7, in Unit 4 (Travel and Adventure).

Learn every Class 7 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Poorvi, NCERT’s new Class 7 book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, listening, grammar, speaking and writing with feedback. ₹1,599 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →