Paper Boats Questions & Answers | Class 7 English | CBSE NCERT

(b) — The child floats his paper boats "one by one down the running stream".

(c) — The repeated phrases show a patient, everyday practice and also mark the slow passage of time.

(b) — The repetition of the 'b' sound in 'big black' is alliteration.

Answer not supplied in the source file.

The child writes his own name and the name of the village where he lives, in big black letters, on his paper boats.

He seems to want the boats to carry his identity far away, so that someone who finds them will know who he is. It shows his wish to reach out and be known in the wide world. (Accept any thoughtful personal response.)

(b) — The child hopes that "someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am".

(c) — He loads his boats with shiuli flowers picked from his own garden.

(c) — 'Blooms of the dawn' is another way of describing the shiuli flowers, which open in the early morning.

Answer not supplied in the source file.

It shows that the child sends something precious and personal from his own garden to unknown people. It reflects his generosity and his wish to share the beauty and fragrance of his home with the world.

The mood is hopeful and wishful. The word 'hope' is repeated — he hopes someone will find the boats, and he hopes the blooms will be carried safely — showing his gentle longing.

(b) — Looking up, he sees "the little clouds setting the white bulging sails".

(c) — The clouds are "sent down the air to race with" his boats.

(b) — The clouds are given the qualities of sailing boats and a heavenly 'playmate' is imagined, which is personification and vivid imagery.

Answer not supplied in the source file.

Just as the child's paper boats sail on the stream, the little clouds seem to sail across the sky with their white bulging sails. The child imagines that both sets of boats are racing each other, one on the water and one in the air.

The child turns an ordinary afternoon into a magical game. He invents an unseen playmate in the sky and imagines the clouds as rival boats, showing a playful, creative mind that finds friendship everywhere — even in the sky.

(c) — "When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream..." tells us he dreams at night.

(b) — In his dream, "the fairies of sleep are sailing in them".

(b) — 'Lading' means the cargo; here it is the fairies' baskets full of dreams.

Answer not supplied in the source file.

The child dreams that his paper boats keep floating on and on under the midnight stars. The fairies of sleep have climbed into them and are sailing them, carrying baskets loaded with dreams.

The tone is gentle, dreamy and peaceful. The image of boats drifting under the midnight stars with fairies carrying baskets of dreams creates a soothing, magical feeling that stays with the reader. (Accept any reasoned personal response.)

The speaker is a child (the poet as a young boy). Every day, he floats his paper boats, one by one, down the running stream near his home.

He writes his own name and the name of the village where he lives on the boats, in big black letters.

The child writes his name and village so that someone in some strange land who finds the boats will know who he is. It expresses his desire to be discovered and remembered by people far away.

Shiuli flowers are small, fragrant white flowers that bloom at dawn, found in many parts of India. The child gets them from his own garden.

The shiuli flowers open and give out their fragrance early in the morning, at dawn. Hence the child beautifully calls them 'blooms of the dawn'.

He sees the little clouds in the sky, which look like boats with white, bulging sails, appearing to sail through the air.

The playmate is an imagined friend in the sky whom the child does not know. He believes this playmate sends the clouds down the air to race with his paper boats.

It describes the little clouds, which look like the full, rounded, white sails of boats billowing in the wind. The child imagines the sky as a sea on which the clouds sail.

The poem moves from dawn ('blooms of the dawn') through the day (launching boats, racing clouds) to night ('when night comes', 'midnight stars'), covering a full day of the child's play and dreams.

He buries his face in his arms and dreams that his paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars, with the fairies of sleep sailing in them.

The fairies of sleep are imaginary, gentle beings the child dreams of. They sail in his paper boats at night, carrying baskets full of dreams as their cargo.

'Lading' means the load or cargo of a boat. The child imagines that the fairies' cargo is made up of baskets packed with dreams, which they carry in the paper boats.

'big black letters' is an example of alliteration, with the sound 'b' repeated in 'big' and 'black'. (Any other valid example, with its repeated sound, is acceptable.)

The clouds are personified as boats that 'set the white bulging sails' and are sent by a friendly playmate in the sky to race with the child's paper boats, as if they were alive and playful.

The words 'day by day', 'one by one' and 'on and on' are repeated. This repetition emphasises the passage of time and the patient, unhurried way in which the child sends out his hopes.

No, the poem does not follow a regular rhyme scheme; it is written in free verse. Its gentle, flowing rhythm matches the movement of boats drifting on the stream.

The poem is set outdoors in a natural environment — beside a running stream, under an open sky with clouds, and later under the midnight stars.

The tone is gentle, dreamy and wishful. The child's hopes for his boats and his calm night-time dream create a soft, thoughtful mood.

The paper boats symbolise the child's innocence, dreams, hopes and messages that he sends out into the world, hoping they will reach someone far away.

The poem teaches that sharing our hopes and small joys — like the child's flowers and letters — can connect us with unknown people. It shows the value of patience, imagination and gentle dreaming. (Accept any reasonable value-based answer.)

The poem shows a child's imagination turning simple play into a magical adventure. The child believes someone in a strange land will find his boats and know who he is; he imagines the shiuli flowers as 'blooms of the dawn' being carried safely through the night; he sees the little clouds as boats with 'white bulging sails' sent by an unknown playmate to race with his boats; and finally he dreams of the 'fairies of sleep' sailing his boats with baskets of dreams. Ordinary things — a stream, flowers, clouds, night — all become alive through his eyes.

During the day, the child floats his paper boats one by one down the running stream, writing his name and his village on them in big black letters. He loads them with shiuli flowers from his garden, hoping the 'blooms of the dawn' will reach land safely at night. As he launches them, he imagines the clouds in the sky racing with his boats. When night comes, he buries his face in his arms and dreams that his boats float on and on under the midnight stars, carrying the fairies of sleep and their baskets full of dreams.

The poem is rooted in reality — a child really does float paper boats on a stream and writes his name on them, and shiuli flowers really bloom at dawn in Indian gardens. But around these real actions the poet weaves imagination: the hope that a stranger in a strange land will find the boats, the picture of clouds as sailing boats racing his own, and the dream of fairies of sleep with their baskets of dreams. This blend of the real and the imagined makes the simple game feel magical.

The paper boats symbolise the child's innocence, dreams, hopes and messages sent out into the world. His name and village written on them stand for his wish to be known and remembered far away; the shiuli flowers stand for the purity and beauty of the new day that he shares; and their safe landing at night stands for his hope that his good wishes will reach others. Under the midnight stars, the boats carry his dreams, showing that hope travels quietly even in darkness.

Nature is portrayed as a friendly, playful companion of the child. The running stream carries his boats; the sky with its little clouds becomes a playmate whose 'white bulging sails' race his boats; the night sky with its midnight stars watches over the floating boats; and even sleep is personified as fairies sailing in them. Dawn, day and night all form a gentle background for the child's play.

The poem reveals a quiet but deep longing to reach out beyond the child's own little world. He writes his name and the name of his village in big black letters so that 'someone in some strange land' who finds the boats will know who he is. He loads them with shiuli flowers from his own garden as a gift for that unknown finder, and he hopes the blooms will be carried safely to land in the night. Even at night, he dreams of the boats floating 'on and on', as if his connection with the world continues in his sleep. The poem suggests that even a small child wishes to be known, remembered and connected to people beyond his village.

The poem is rich in visual imagery. We see 'big black letters' on white paper boats, the shiuli flowers described as 'blooms of the dawn', and the 'little clouds setting the white bulging sails' in the sky. The closing image — boats floating 'on and on under the midnight stars' with fairies carrying baskets of dreams — creates a picture that is both visual and dreamlike. The imagery of dawn, clouds and midnight stars also marks the passage of the whole day.

The poem begins in bright daylight with active hope — floating boats, writing names, loading flowers — and a playful excitement as the clouds join the race. Towards the end, the mood becomes calm and dreamy: the child buries his face in his arms and dreams of boats drifting under the midnight stars. The shift is from lively daytime hope to peaceful night-time dreaming, yet the feeling of gentle wishfulness remains throughout.

In these lines, the child imagines that when night falls, gentle fairies of sleep climb into his paper boats and sail them. Their cargo — the 'lading' — is made of baskets packed full of dreams. The image suggests that the same boats that carried his hopes by day now carry dreams through the night, so his little creation never stops its journey.

The poem inspires innocence, hope and generosity. The child's patience — floating boats 'day by day' and 'one by one' — teaches perseverance; sending flowers from his own garden teaches the joy of sharing; and his trust that his boats will be found and understood teaches optimism. The poem also nurtures imagination and a love of nature, reminding us that even small, everyday acts can carry our dreams far and wide.

The central theme of the poem is the innocent hope with which a child sends his dreams out into the world. The child floats his paper boats 'day by day... one by one down the running stream' — an act of patient, repeated faith. He writes his name and the name of his village on them in big black letters because he hopes 'someone in some strange land' will find them and know who he is; this is the human wish to be remembered and to reach beyond one's own little world. He loads the boats with shiuli flowers from his garden, turning his play into an act of giving, and hopes the 'blooms of the dawn' will be carried safely to land in the night. The theme grows richer in the second half, where imagination takes over: the little clouds in the sky seem to set 'white bulging sails' and race his boats, sent by an unknown 'playmate' above. Finally, at night, the boats carry the fairies of sleep and 'their baskets full of dreams'. Together, these pictures say that hope, like a paper boat, travels quietly but bravely into the unknown, and that a child's imagination can fill the whole world — stream, sky and night — with friendship.

The child-speaker is a small boy full of innocence and imagination, living in a village near a stream. He is gentle and patient: he does not send one grand boat but floats his paper boats 'day by day... one by one', showing quiet persistence. He is hopeful and sociable in spirit — he writes his name and 'the name of the village where I live' on the boats so that a stranger in 'some strange land' will know who he is. He is generous: he loads his little boats with 'shiuli flower from our garden', sharing the best of his home with unknown people. He is highly imaginative and playful: he sees the 'little clouds setting the white bulging sails' and imagines a 'playmate of mine in the sky' sending them 'to race with my boats'. He is also tender and dreamy: when night comes, he 'bury[ies] my face in my arms and dream[s]' that his boats float under the midnight stars with the 'fairies of sleep' sailing in them. In short, he is a portrait of childhood itself — curious, giving and forever dreaming.

Tagore weaves nature through every line of the poem. The journey begins on a 'running stream', whose movement carries the child's hopes forward. The flowers he chooses are shiuli blossoms, 'blooms of the dawn' — a real Indian flower that opens at daybreak, linking the boats with freshness and the start of a new day. In the sky, the 'little clouds setting the white bulging sails' turn the heavens into a second sea; the child imagines an unknown 'playmate of mine in the sky' sending the clouds 'down the air to race with my boats', so that sky and water become one great playground. As day ends, the 'midnight stars' keep watch over the boats that 'float on and on', and even sleep becomes a part of nature's magic through the 'fairies of sleep'. This imagery does three things: it marks the passage of a whole day from dawn to midnight; it makes the natural world feel friendly and alive; and it lifts a child's small game into something vast and beautiful.

The poem teaches the values of patience, hope, generosity and imagination. Patience: the child floats his boats 'day by day' and 'one by one' — he does not give up after a single attempt, and neither should we when our first efforts go unnoticed. Hope: he trusts that 'someone in some strange land' will find his boats and know who he is; likewise, our kind words and good work may reach people we will never meet. Generosity: he sends shiuli flowers from 'our garden' — the best he has — as a gift to a stranger, teaching us to share freely. Imagination: he sees clouds as racing boats and night as a fleet of fairies, reminding us to keep our sense of wonder alive. In my own life, I can apply these values by working steadily at my studies and hobbies, by hoping for good even when results are slow, by sharing what I have without expecting a return, and by looking at nature around me with curiosity and delight.

Though short and simple, the poem uses many devices that deepen its charm. Alliteration appears in 'big black letters', where the repeated 'b' sound makes the writing feel bold and firm. Repetition in 'Day by day', 'one by one' and 'float on and on' creates a rocking rhythm like a boat on water and stresses the passage of time. Personification is everywhere: the clouds 'set... the white bulging sails' and are sent by a 'playmate' in the sky, while the 'fairies of sleep' sail the boats at night — nature behaves like a friend. Imagery abounds: visual pictures of black letters, white sails and midnight stars; the shiuli flowers give fragrance and colour. The metaphor of the boats as messengers carrying 'baskets full of dreams' turns a paper toy into a carrier of hope. The poem is written in free verse without a rhyme scheme, and this freedom suits its flowing, dreamy mood. All these devices work together to make a child's simple game feel universal and magical.

Yes, the wish to be known and remembered is one of the most natural human feelings, and the child in the poem expresses it in the purest way — by writing his name and his village on paper boats and hoping 'someone in some strange land' will find them and know who he is. In real life we see the same wish everywhere: people write letters, keep diaries, post their work and ideas online, and hope their efforts will be seen and appreciated by others. Scientists, artists and writers all send their 'paper boats' into the world through their creations. Even small acts — a message in a bottle, a name carved on a tree — come from this deep desire to connect and be remembered. What makes the child special is that his wish is unselfish and gentle: he does not want fame, only to share his name, his flowers and his dreams. His example teaches us to send our good wishes into the world patiently, without knowing where they will land. (Accept any reasoned personal response.)

What a wonderful surprise it would be! I would pick up the little boat carefully, noticing the big black letters of the child's name and his village, and the shiuli flowers still resting inside, their fragrance faint but sweet. I would feel a great curiosity about the child who made it — how old he is, what his village by the stream looks like, and how many days his boat must have sailed to reach me. I would also feel strangely connected to him, a stranger whose message from far away had found me. Next, I would try to write back: I would make my own paper boat, write my name, my town and a friendly message on it, add a flower from my garden, and set it afloat on the same stream, hoping it might travel back and reach him one day. I would keep the shiuli flowers pressed in a book as a memory of this magical connection. The child's little boat would remind me that even the smallest gifts can build bridges between people who have never met. (Accept any imaginative response consistent with the poem.)