Paper Boats
By Rabindranath Tagore
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 flower 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 thee 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 ins
their baskets full of dreams.
Summary of Paper Boats
- Popularity of “Paper Boats”: This free verse poem ‘Paper Boats’ by Rabindranath Tagore, is a matchless narrative poem by popular Indian Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, a Noble laureate. The poem was published in 1912 by the Indian Society in London. Originally, the poem was in Bengali from where it was translated into English, the reason that it is in free verse. The poem presents the story of an Indian boy who dreams of floating paper boats with his name to win popularity across the globe wherever his paper boats go.
- “Paper Boats” As a Representative of Childhood innocence: The poem starts with the poet showing a child narrating his story of floating paper boats in the nearby streams. He writes his name and the name of his village on the paper boat in black ink and hopes that the boat will reach that strange land where the stream goes. This would make him popular in those lands. He would carefully load his boats with flowers from his garden, with the assurance that they would safely reach their destination. However, it seems that the clouds in the sky are bulging to disrupt the journey of the boats as well as in his desires to float them. He entertains the idea that these clouds are possibly the handiwork of other playmates, engaged in a race with his boats, while his dreams transport him to a nocturnal world where his boats navigate beneath the starry sky, with slumbering fairies and dreaming lads on board.
- Major Themes in “Paper Boats”: Childhood innocence, childhood longings, and dreams of fantasies are three major themes of the poem. The poet starts with a boy narrating his story of floating paper boats with his name and the name of his village written on them to become famous. He claimed he would load his boats with flowers from his garden and sail them under the cloudy sky. But in another location, other boys sent those clouds to race against his boats. However, he desires that his boats float forever full of fairies and full of lads having baskets full of dreams. This childhood fantasies make up the major theme of the poem.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Paper Boats
Literary devices are essential tools for poetic or prose writing. The analysis of these devices in the poem as given below shows this fact.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ and /o/ in “Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running/stream”.
- Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words, such as /s/ in “some strange land” and the sound of /f/ in “flower from”.
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /k/ and /l/ in “I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the” and the sound /m/ and /s/ in “When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that”.
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,
When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my
paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the / little clouds setting thee white bulging sails”, and “The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading ins / their baskets full of dreams”.
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem shows the metaphors of boats, fairies and dreams.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of the symbols of sleep, dream, paper boats, stream, and flowers.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Paper Boats
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme. Therefore, it is a free verse poem.
- Verse: A line in poetry with material pattern or notes or without them is called a verse. The poem has total of 17 verses.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. The poem comprises a single stanza of 17 verses.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “Paper Boats” are relevant to use when teaching about how luck turns to bless the people. It could also be used in a motivational lecture for people to make efforts to turn their luck.
I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the
little clouds setting thee white bulging sails.