Paper Boat
by Rabindranath Tagore
The Poem:
"Day by day I float my paper boat 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 boat 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!"
Summary of the Poem:
Here in this poem a little playful boy plays making paper boat and float it in the water. He makes paper boats every alternate day and floats them one by one down stream. He wishes that the boats will reach some strange unknown country. He writes him name and address with black ink on the boats so that the people of those lands may know about him.
He loads his boats with fresh shiuli flower from his garden and hopes that the flowers will reach the new land by the night. Lastly the boy looks up the sky and sees that there are little white clouds in the sky. He imagines that the clouds are competing a race with his boats sailing their white puffed sails.
1. 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.
b) 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.
2. "In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live."
a) What does 'them' refer to?
= 'Them' refers to the paper boats.
b) Why does the persona write his name and the name of his village?
= 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.
c) What does this tell you about the persona?
= This tells us that the persona is very friendly and wants to make friends by introducing himself through his paper boats.
3. Does the persona float his boat often or does he rarely do this?
= 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.
4. At night, what dreams does the persona have about his boat?
= 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.
About the Poet:
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a famous writer, singer and painter. He composed the National Anthem of two counties (Bangladesh and India). He was the first Indian to be awarded the Nobel Prize.