Paper Boats

About

This is a gentle poem, in the spirit of Rabindranath Tagore, about a child floating paper boats on water.

Summary

In the poem a child makes little paper boats and sets them floating on the flowing water. The child writes his name and village on each boat and hopes that someone far away will find them. The boats carry the child's dreams and imagination across the world. As night falls, the child dreams that the boats sail on under the stars. The poem captures the innocent hopes and wonder of childhood.

Theme / message

The poem celebrates the innocence, imagination and dreams of childhood, and the wish to connect with the wide world.

Important questions

1. What does the child write on the paper boats?
2. What does the child hope will happen to the boats?
3. What do the paper boats stand for in the poem?

Key words

float - to rest or move on water; imagination - forming pictures in the mind; dream - a hope or wish; innocence - purity of a child.