Summary of Ice-Cream Man

Rachel Field wrote fiction for children. She was also a poet and novelist.

Theme

This poem is written by Rachel Field and communicates how an ice cream man brings joy and relief during the scorching heat of the summer days. He brings varieties of ice creams in his cart. He also brings cold fizz drinks to quench the thirst of the children. The ice cream man becomes everyone's favourite during this time.

Summary of Ice-Cream Man Class 5 English

The poem describes a hot summer day scene of the city. In the summer days, everybody gets tired of the heat and the sun blazes extremely. Meanwhile, the Ice-cream man comes down the streets with his cart. The ice-cream man becomes a means of joy and happiness for everyone. He has different flavours of ice creams in his cart. He has chilled frosty-fizz to drink too. Children flock round the cart and ask for their flavour of ice cream or chilled drink. The poet has compared the ice cream cart with a bed of roses and sweet peas, where the children gather as honey bees cluster around the flowers to get nectar. This is how the ice cream man spreads joy and happiness everywhere in the summers.

Explanation Stanza by Stanza

Stanza 1

When summer’s in the city,

And brick’s a blaze of heat,

The Ice-cream man with his little cart

Goes trundling down the street.

In the first stanza, the poet says that it is summertime and the city is burning with scorching heat. The sun blazes extremely. The ice-cream man comes to the city with his ice-cream cart and goes slowly on the streets with his cart.

Stanza 2

Beneath his round umbrella, 

Oh, what a joyful sight,

To see him fill the cones with mounds,

Of cooling brown and white:

In this stanza, the poet says that the ice-cream man is a source of joy and happiness to everyone in this scorching heat. It is wonderful and joyous to see how the ice-cream man fills the cone with ice-cream under his big round umbrella.

Stanza 3

Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry,

Or chilly things to drink,

From bottles full of frosty-fizz,

Green, orange, white, or pink.

In this stanza, the poet talks about the variety of flavours like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry that the ice-cream man has in his cart. He also has chilled frosty fizz drinks in different colours.

Stanza 4

His cart might be a flower bed,

Of roses and sweet peas,

The way the children cluster round

As thick as honeybees.

In this stanza, the poet compares the ice-cream cart with a bed of flowers where roses and sweet peas are blossoming. The poet says that the way children gather around the ice-cream cart, they look like honey bees clustering around the flowers to get nectar. This is how the ice cream man spreads joy and happiness everywhere in the summers.

Summary of Ice-Cream Man

Students must have understood the Poem- Icecream Man through the above explanations given stanza wise. It also discussed the theme of the poem. 

Students often find it difficult to comprehend texts of literature and as a result, struggle to unlock the technique to revise any particular piece. 

To assist the students with one of the most effective ways to do so, you will get to know about the PQ4R technique. 

Read ahead to understand it.

PQ4R is a systematic approach to understanding and grasping what you have read. At times we are working on a lengthy, not very interesting and ambitious knotty piece of literature. It seems a bit difficult to reach the core of the piece. 

How to go about such a piece? 

The PQ4R method can surely help the reader to understand the import of the stuff.

Now, what is PQ4R?

This is a strategy involving six steps namely Preview, Question and 4Rs refer to Read, Reflect, Recite and Review. 

Let's discuss them. 

• Preview 

The very first step is to read the passage quickly, paying a little attention to the titles, headlines and other highlighted parts of the text. In doing so, we get a rough idea of the basic theme of the given material. As we lay a little stress on the titles, we become aware of the main focus of the writer. Students shall make sure that before jumping into understanding the text deeply, one shall make sure to preview it once so that the later process becomes easier.  

As we proceed further, we come to the next step, let's discuss that. 

• Question

Read the passage again at a slightly slower pace and pay attention. Are there any extracts that raise questions in your mind? Reread the said parts and think clearly about what questions are coming to your mind. Jot down the questions one by one. 

Do you find any connection between Titles and headlines and the questions framed by you? 

Read the highlighted portions, try to find out why these lines have been underlined. Have you framed any questions pertaining to this part of the write-up? 

Make as many inferences as possible. Try to answer your every ‘how’ and ‘when’. 

Now it's time to start with the 4Rs, let’s understand them. 

• Read

Give a thorough reading of the entire material. Read the questions you have framed. You have to find out answers to all your questions at this stage. You may have to read certain portions again. As you delve deep, you are sure to get the solutions to the problems which your questions had posed before you. This would give a thorough insight into the text and would also help you to gain a better understanding of the same. 

• Reflect

Reflecting upon the churning which you have done through the questionnaire, you will find yourself looking at the text from a different light. Find out if there is any more chance of any other question or have all the doubts have been cleared or still, there's some chance of more analysis. This will lighten even the most insignificant extents but your knowledge of the material will surely deepen.

• Recite

Once you are sure that you have turned every leaf, give a loud reading to the entire outcome of your effort. Read your questions and the answers you have found for them. You will surely smile to yourself because every little detail, every little information which the writer wanted to impart is crystal clear in your mind. 

• Review

As a final touch, read the original passage quickly again. You will congratulate yourself for the labour that you have put in. Now the things are as clear as if this piece was not written by anyone else rather than your original creation.

Since this is the most effective way to decode the real meaning of any piece of text, the results would amaze you. 

Initially, it might sound like a time-consuming task but once you practice following this strategy, you would be able to master it within no time. 

Hence, students shall make sure to try this for some consecutive literary pieces. 

Understandably, there might be so many things whose shortcuts would attract you but it is important for you to understand that shortcuts can never help you win the battles as they never let you reach your potential. 

Therefore, it is good to spend a little more time and follow a long way, if it guarantees better results.