PAPER BOATS

By – Rabindranath Tagore
Understanding the poem
The poet here writes about a fun activity common in children during the rainy
season or otherwise. The poet tells us that he set his paper boats to sail everyday
to an unknown destination.
Aspiring to be known by the people of the land it reaches to , he writes his name
and address in Big Black letters. Also he does not forget to fill his boat with gift of
flowers for now, for the one it reaches to. He hopes that his boat sails through
with the load of his gift through darkness of night.
The poet further mentions about a race that may take place as there are other
children who are sailing their boats too.
He further says that after he sets his boat .He looks up in the sky and he see
the clouds sailing in the sky too. The clouds may create a turbulence in the
atmosphere by raging the winds thus can cause boat to drown or disrupt its
smooth sail.
By the night the poet buries his face in his arms in confusion and dubious about
the journey, he dreamt of his boat sailing through the night. He dreamt of the
fairies being sailing in his boat and loading their baskets with rich blossoms.
Metaphorical Sense of the poem

…….something that it symbolizes to …...

Metaphorical Sense of the poem

boat - referred to as human soul with hope and aspiration.

shiuli flower- as gift of life
clouds - God sent obstacles and hurdles( tests)
playmates - competitors in the world here also God himself
fairies - Goddesses who would make his wish come true and would keep filling
his life with many more gifts.
SO…...
the idea of the poem here is that as humans we all would have
hopes and aspirations and would want to reach a point where the
world would know us by our name and work. ‘Running Stream’ is
the life that flows irrespective what may come. It is a continuous
process. And we as souls travel as the ‘boat’ made out of paper
which is as perishable as we are.
Irrespective of what we decide in our lives God may have his own
plans and our lives might change the course of their journey. But
our dreams are forever inspiring to motivate us to complete our
journey loaded with the gift of Life and reach our respective
destinations.