Paper Boats Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share Paper Boats Questions & Answers.

This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Banyan Tree, Where The Mind is Without Fear, A Little Grain of Gold and The Postmaster which are written by Rabindranath Tagore only. So, make sure to check these posts as well.

Paper Boats Questions & Answers

Word Galaxy

• Strange – unknown
• Float – to move slowly through water
• Shiuli – name of a flower
• Stream – a small river
• Dawn – day-break
• Bulging – sticking out
• Playmate – friend

Question 1: Choose the correct option:

(a) The child loves the world of………

i. Gardens
ii. Playfulness and fun
iii. Miseries

(b) The child loads the boats with……..

i. Rose flower
ii. Sunflower
iii. Shiuli flower

Question 2: Pick out the right option.

(a) The child floats paper/wooden boats.

Answer: Paper

(b) He floats his boats in the stream/river.

Answer: Stream

(c) He writes his name in red/black letters.

Answer: Black

(d) The child brings flowers from the market/garden.

Answer: Garden

(e) The child writes the name of his village/town.

Answer: Village

(f) The child collects Shiuli/sunflower.

Answer: Shiuli

(g) He wants to make friend/enemy by flowers.

Answer: Friend

Question 3: Match the columns:

Paper Boats Questions & Answers

Question 4: Explain the lines:

(a) I hope that someone in some strange land will find.

Answer: In this line, the poet is saying that the child loves the world of playfulness and fun. He floats paper boats down the running stream day by day. He sends these boats with the intention that they would reach some distant lands. He fondly hopes that he has an unknown friend somewhere and he would receive his paper boats there.

(b) See the clouds setting their white bulging sails.

Answer: In this line, the poet is saying that when the child looks up, he sees the white clouds sailing in the sky. He also imagines that in the sky, he has a friend and thinks that the other child sends white clouds down the air to compete with his boats.

Question 5: Where does the poet float his paper boats?

Answer: The poet float his paper boats down the running stream.

Question 6: What does the poet write on the paper boats?

Answer: The poet wrote his name and the name of his village on the paper boats.

Question 7: The poet float his paper boats down the running stream. What is his hope?

Answer: His hope is that someone in strange land would find them and know him.

Question 8: Why does he fill the boat with shiuli flowers?

Answer: The poet (child) filled the paper boats with shiuli flowers as a gift for the one who finds his boat on the distant land.

Question 9: What does he see when he looks up at the sky?

Answer: He saw white bulging clouds sailing (floating) in the sky.

Paper Boats Questions & Answers

Question 10: What does he think about the clouds?

Answer: He thought that someone (his play-mate) is sending those clouds to compete with his boats.

Question 11: What does the poet dream of?

Answer: The poet dreamt that his boats are floating under the midnight stars. The angels are sailing in his boats which are filled with the baskets of dreams.

Question 12: What does the poet mean by ‘blooms of the dawn’?

Answer: By ‘blooms of the dawn’ the poet means the flowers that blooms early in the morning.

Question 13: The poet imagines himself as a little boy sailing paper boats. How does the poet describe a child’s world of imagination through this poem?

Answer: Imagination is where thinking out of the box begins which is vital for child’s development. The ability to imagine is the inborn power within a child that develops his mental capacities. Through this poem, the poet has tried to foster imaginative skills in the early years which would make a significant difference in his grooming. The sole purpose of this poem is not to analyse the child but to know him which in turn will give not only an understanding of the mental growth but also will help to recognize and encourage his hidden potentials.

Question 14: Read the lines and answer the questions:

(a) What does the poet mean by the word ‘launch’?

Answer: The word ‘launch’ means that the boats are put on water to sail down the running stream.

(b) Do clouds have sails? What does the poet mean by ‘clouds setting their white bulging sails’?

Answer: No, clouds don’t have sail. Its mere the child’s assumption that the floating clouds in the sky are sailing like his paper boats in the stream.

(c) Who does the poet think sends down the clouds? Why do they do that?

Answer: According to the poet, there is another child up there in the sky who has sent those clouds to compete with the child’s boats.

Paper Boats Questions & Answers

Question 15: Read the lines and answer the questions:

(a) What will someone in some strange land find?

Answer: Someone in the strange land would find the floating paper boats.

(b) How will they know ‘who I am’?

Answer: As the child wrote his name and the name of his village on the boats so he hoped that they would know who he was.

(c) Do you think this will really happen? Give reasons.

Answer: In fact, this is not possible. Through this poem, Rabindranath Tagore has tried to explore a child’s imagination.

Question 16: Read the lines and answer the questions:

(a) In what are the fairies of sleep sailing?

Answer: The fairies of sleep are sailing in the paper boats made by the poet.

(b) Do you think the poet really sees the fairies? Quote the line that gives the answer.

Answer: No, the poet just dreamt about the fairies.
“The fairies of sleep are sailing . . .” This line shows that it is his fantasy not real.

So, these were Paper Boats Questions & Answers.