Paper Boat

-Rabindranath Tagore

Introduction :

Rabindranath Tagore is one of the greatest writers in modern Indian literature. His poetry shows his deep love of humanism. Paper Boat' is a simple yet a poem that has many levels of meaning.

Tagore's childhood reminiscence :

The poet remembers his happy childhood days. One of the pass times for children during the rainy days is to make paper boats and float them on little streams nearby. The thrill of joy on seeing the paper boat float on water would make the children to clap their hands and laugh innocently. Similar was the experience of the poet when he floated a paper boat. It was a rainy day during the month of July. He was alone enjoying the play.

Nature's vengeance on the Poet's happiness:

All on a sudden the storm-clouds collected followed by a gust of cool wind. Rain began to pour heavily. Soon the muddy rain water from all sides flowed and finally entered the stream nearby. The water level in the stream began to raise quickly and as a result it sank the boy's paper boat and washed it away. The happiness of the poet was shortlived. The disappointed child began to scold the storm and the rain. He thought that nature had spoiled his happiness purposefully. All its anger was against him, he concluded. A child's disappointment is well brought out by Tagore.

Comparison of the past with present :

The poet always remembers his childhood days. Whenever he meets with a failure, immediately he is remembered of the paper boat that sank into the stream. The poet blames fate for the many tricks it has played on him in his life.