World Literature

Paper Boat
Rabindranath Tagore
Introduction
A free verse poem “Paper Boats” by Rabindranath Tagore, is a

matchless narrative poem by popular Bengali poet, Rabindranath
Tagore, a Noble laureate. The poem appeared first 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 to float paper boats with
his name to win popularity across the globe wherever his paper boats
go.
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.
Einführung
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.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “Paper Boats”
.1. Assonance: It 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”, and /e/ in “In big black letters I write my name on them and the
name of / the village where I live.”
2. Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the

successive words such as /s/ in “some strange land” and /f/ in “flower from.”
3. Consonance: It is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such

as the sound of /s/ and /l/ in “I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and
see the / little clouds setting thee white bulging sails”, /m/ and /s/ in “When night
comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that / my paper boats float on and on
under the midnight stars.”
4. 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.
5. Imagery: It is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The
poem shows the use of imagery such as “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.”
6. 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.
7. Symbolism: It 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
The poem starts with the poet showing a child narrating his story of
floating paper boats in the nearby streams. He states that 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, then,
load his boats with flowers that grow in his garden and that the boats
will reach home safely. 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 thinks that these are perhaps some other playmates
who send these clouds in the sky to race with his boats but he dreams
about his boats traveling at night under the glow of the stars with
fairies sleeping and lads dream
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 states that he would load his boats with
Major Themes the flowers from his garden and that they
would sail under the cloudy sky though at
some other place some other boys send
those clouds to race with his boats.
However, he desires that his boats float
forever full of fairies and full of lads having
baskets full of dreams. These childhood
fantasies make up the major theme of the
poem.
Thanking you for your
kind attention…

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Paper Boat

A free verse poem “Paper Boats” by Rabindranath Tagore, is a

2. Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the

3. Consonance: It is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such

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