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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE RAILWAY TRAIN by EMILY DICKINSON

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: I LIKE TO SEE IT LAP THE MILES
Last Line: AT ITS OWN STABLE DOOR.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; HORSES; RAILROADS; RIVERS; RAILWAYS; TRAINS;
I like to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step
Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare
To fit its sides, and crawl between,
Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza;
Then chase itself down hill
And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop -- docile and omnipotent --
At its own stable door.


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