What the boats stand for

A poem can mean more than it says. In 'Paper Boats' the objects are ordinary, but each stands for something bigger. Something that stands for something bigger is a symbol.

Notice the repetitions: "Day by day I float my paper boats one by one"; "my paper boats float on and on". They show time passing: this isn't one afternoon's game but something the child does again and again, and the floating goes on after he stops watching.

Now look at how Tagore makes pictures: X of Y. "Blooms of the dawn", "fairies of sleep". It's simple, and you can use it too: take two plain nouns and join them with of.

Try some: wings of the wind, waves of the clouds, dreams of the children, songs of the rain, glimmers of the stars, cries of the birds, tears of the evening, roars of the thunder, shadows of the ocean.

Some work better than others! Pair two nouns that don't obviously belong together, and see whether the phrase opens up a picture. "Songs of the rain" does. "Songs of the songs" doesn't.