Paper Boats — Class 7 English (CBSE)

From the current NCERT Poorvi Grade 7 book, Unit 3: Dreams and Discoveries, Chapter 8. A gentle, dreamy poem by Rabindranath Tagore about a child's hopes sailing away on little paper boats.

1. About the poem

• Text type: A lyrical poem.
• Poet: Rabindranath Tagore — India's great poet and the first Indian Nobel laureate in Literature.
• Main theme: Imagination, hope, and the dreams of childhood.

2. Summary

In "Paper Boats", a child floats paper boats down a running stream, day after day. On each boat he writes his name and the name of his village, hoping that someone in a strange, faraway land will find a boat and come to know who he is. He loads the little boats with shiuli (night-flowering) blossoms, wishing that these dawn-picked flowers will be carried safely to the shore at night. When he looks up at the sky, he imagines the clouds as sails of boats sailing to race with his. At night he dreams that the fairies of sleep are sailing in his paper boats, their baskets full of dreams. The poem captures a child's wonder, hope and longing to connect with the wide world through imagination.

3. Theme and poetic devices

• Theme: Childhood imagination, hope, and a longing to reach out to the world.
• Imagery: paper boats, shiuli flowers, clouds as sails, fairies of sleep.
• Symbolism: the boats carry the child's hopes and dreams.
• Tone: gentle, dreamy, and hopeful.

4. New words and meanings

5. Let Us Think (comprehension)

1. What does the child float on the stream? Paper boats.

2. What does he write on each boat? His name and the name of his village.

3. Why does he write his name and village? So that someone in a strange land may find the boat and know who he is.

4. What does he load the boats with? Shiuli (night-flowering) blossoms gathered at dawn.

5. What does he dream at night? That the fairies of sleep are sailing in his paper boats, laden with dreams.

6. Language and poetry

Imagery

The poet compares clouds to sails of boats. Find one more beautiful image in the poem.

Your own metaphor

Write one line comparing a cloud (or the moon, or a star) to something else.

7. Writing and speaking

• Writing: Write 5–6 lines about a wish you would send out into the world, and how.
• Speaking: Describe a paper boat (or kite) you once made and what you imagined.

8. Common mistakes

• Mistake: Thinking the boats are real, big boats. Fix: They are little paper boats carrying the child's dreams.
• Mistake: Missing the symbolism. Fix: The boats stand for the child's hopes reaching far away.
• Mistake: One-word answers for "why" questions. Fix: Give the reason (to be found and known by someone far away).

9. Practice set

1. What does the child do each day?
2. What does he write on the boats and why?
3. What flowers does he load on the boats?
4. How does he imagine the clouds?
5. What do the paper boats stand for?

10. Answer key

1. He floats paper boats down the stream.
2. His name and his village, so someone far away may know him.
3. Shiuli (night-flowering) blossoms gathered at dawn.
4. As the sails of boats racing with his.
5. The child's hopes and dreams reaching out to the world.

11. Quick revision

• Unit 3: Dreams and Discoveries · Chapter 8 · poem by Rabindranath Tagore.
• A child floats paper boats with his name and village written on them.
• He hopes someone in a far land will find them.
• He loads them with shiuli flowers; imagines clouds as sails.
• He dreams the fairies of sleep sail in his boats.
• Theme: imagination, hope, childhood dreams.

Unit 3: Dreams and Discoveries

This chapter is part of Unit 3: Dreams and Discoveries. The three chapters in this unit are:

• Chapter 7: My Brother's Great Invention — a humorous story
• Chapter 8: Paper Boats — a poem by Rabindranath Tagore
• Chapter 9: North, South, East, West — a travel story about India