Paper Boats by Rabindranath Tagore

Paper Boats is a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore included in the English Literature subject for ICSE Class V students.

Kids love to play with paper boats. But can it carry the weight of flowers and travel safely to a faraway land? This is what this poem talks about.

Paper Boats: Complete Poem

Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.

In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.

I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.

I load my little boats with Shiuli flowers from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.

I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting their white bulging sails.

I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!

When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.

The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading is their baskets full of dreams.

Summary of the Poem

The poem ‘Paper Boats ’ is written by famous Indian poet, writer, and singer Shri Rabindranath Tagore, who has also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1913.

A child makes paper boats daily and floats them down a running stream. She writes her name in big black letters on the boats and also writes the name of her village. She hopes that someone in some strange land will find the boats and will know who has sent the boat.

At times, she loads the boats with Shiuli flowers (Parijatha flowers); these flowers bloom in the early morning when the sun is rising. She hopes that these blooms will be carried safely, down the stream, to some land in the night.

To the girl, the little clouds floating in the sky appear like the white sails of a boat, bulging in the wind. She wonders who might be her friend in the sky who sends these clouds to race with her boats. The girl imagines the clouds floating in the sky and her boats floating in the stream to be running a race.

Every night, as the little girl lies down on the bed to sleep, she dreams that her paper boats are floating along the stream under the midnight stars. She dreams that the fairies of sleep, with basket full of dreams, are also sailing in her paper boat.

Paper Boats: Word Meanings

• Strange – unknown
• Float – to move slowly through water
• Shiuli – name of a flower
• Stream – a small river
• Dawn – day-break
• Bulging – sticking out
• Playmate – friend

Paper Boats: Question and Answers

Complete the following sentences.

a) The person speaking in a poem is called the persona. I think the persona is about 10 years old because floating paper boats is a childhood activity.

The persona floats paper boats filled with shiuli flowers in the running stream.

c) The persona imagines that the clouds are setting their white bulging sails sent by an unknown playmate in the sky to race with the paper boats.

“In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.”

Question a: What does ‘them’ refer to?

Answer: ‘Them’ refers to the paper boats.

Question b: Why does the persona write his name and the name of his village?

Answer: The persona writes the name and the name of his village on the paper boats because he hopes that someone in some strange land will find them and know who he is.

Question c: What does this tell you about the persona?

Answer: This tells us that the persona is very friendly and wants to make friends by introducing himself through his paper boats.

Question: Does the persona float his boat often or does he rarely do this? Which words in the poem give us the answer to this question?

Answer: The persona floats his boats often. The very first line of the poem- “Day by day I float my paper boats” gives us the answer that the persona floats his paper boats almost everyday.

Question At night, what dreams does the persona have about his boat?

Answer: At night the persona dreams that his paper boats float on and on under the mid-night stars. He also dreams that the fairies of sleep are sailing in them and they are carrying basket full of dreams.