How to Use these Questions
Let us study a poem together, using these questions to guide us. Not all of the questions apply to every poem. We will use only the ones we need to help us like the poem and to get meaning from it.
We will begin with "The Locomotive", by Emily Dickinson.
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.
To get the meaning1. Who is the speaker? What sort of person is she? To whom is she speaking?
In the first stanza the poet speaks right out and says, "I like", and as we read along we can tell she is talking to anyone who will listen about something she likes to do – namely, watch a train from a distance as it laps up the miles through mountains and valleys and towns.
2. What is the setting of the poem? What is the event or occasion?
There are no specific details of the poem that indicate exact time or place. She could be watching the train from her window or from some spot outdoors where she sees it make big sweeps, for she is not just watching a train pass. She is really following it along its way. She sees it stop for water before it climbs the mountain; she hears its whistle as it squeezes through a narrow pass or tunnel; she notes how promptly it stops at the station.
3. What is the central purpose of the poem?
The purpose of the poem is to communicate the idea the poet has that the locomotive is a kind of super- horse that is "docile and obedient" in spite of its size.
4. What is the poet saying?
Emily Dickinson compares a locomotive to a huge animal which she likes to watch as it laps up the miles and licks up the valleys and stops to feed at tanks before it steps around a pile of mountains. She sees its headlight peering haughtily into small houses along the tracks. As the locomotive crawls through a narrow pass, she hears its whistle, grumbling and complaining, in long hooting sounds that make her think of the beat of a stanza of poetry. As the locomotive chases itself down hill, she hears it neighing like a horse as it stops right on time at its own station.
To enjoy the poet’s craft
1. Is the language of the poem simple or difficult? Point out words that are effective.
The language of "The Locomotive" is simple but effective. Most of the verbs are Anglo-Saxon words of one syllable that imply the action of a horse yet are suitable to the machine – lap, lick, feed, step, crawl, chase, neigh and stop. The adjectives prodigious and supercilious come as a surprise; but they are fitting, for they suggest qualities that we associate with great strength and size. The name "Boanerges" is appropriate, too, for it means "Sons of Thunder".
2. What words does the poet use to give clear, sharp impressions?
The poem is rich in images of sight and sound. Especially noteworthy is the sound effect of the "horrid, hooting stanza" and the continuous rhythmical sound the locomotive makes as it "laps the miles and licks the valleys up". The peculiar sound a train makes as it comes into the station she compares to a horse’ neighing. The "pile of mountains" and "the shanties by the sides of roads" are clear – cut concrete details. The idea of squeezing the locomotive through a narrow pass is well conceived in the phrase. "And then a quarry pare to fit its sides and crawl between".
3. What figures of speech does the poet use?
The poem is rich in figurative language. The whole poem is really a metaphor in which the locomotive is compared to a kind of super- horse which is "docile and omnipotent". Miss Dickinson sees that man has harnessed the power of this huge locomotive and made it as obedient to his will as a thoroughbred race horse.
The language of "The Locomotive" is simple but effective. Most of the verbs are Anglo-Saxon words of one syllable that imply the action of a horse yet are suitable to the machine – lap, lick, feed, step, crawl, chase, neigh and stop. The adjectives prodigious and supercilious come as a surprise; but they are fitting, for they suggest qualities that we associate with great strength and size. The name "Boanerges" is appropriate, too, for it means "Sons of Thunder".
2. What words does the poet use to give clear, sharp impressions?
The poem is rich in images of sight and sound. Especially noteworthy is the sound effect of the "horrid, hooting stanza" and the continuous rhythmical sound the locomotive makes as it "laps the miles and licks the valleys up". The peculiar sound a train makes as it comes into the station she compares to a horse’ neighing. The "pile of mountains" and "the shanties by the sides of roads" are clear – cut concrete details. The idea of squeezing the locomotive through a narrow pass is well conceived in the phrase. "And then a quarry pare to fit its sides and crawl between".
3. What figures of speech does the poet use?
The poem is rich in figurative language. The whole poem is really a metaphor in which the locomotive is compared to a kind of super- horse which is "docile and omnipotent". Miss Dickinson sees that man has harnessed the power of this huge locomotive and made it as obedient to his will as a thoroughbred race horse.
There are two easy similes in the last stanza when the engine neighs like Boanergers and is as punctual as a star. The idea of the stars being so regular that men have counted time by them for ages is suggested in this comparison of punctuality of the locomotive as it arrives on time – according to man’s prearranged schedule.
Personification is clearly intended in the second stanza when the poet says that the locomotive, supercilious, peer(s) in shanties by the sides of roads. The original meaning of "supercilious" lends force to the personification by suggesting that the locomotive raises its eyebrows at the poor little huts it passes. This is surely attributing to a thing a trait that we unfortunately see in man.
4. What devices does the poet use to create sound effects?
Miss Dickinson uses alliteration in such lines as
I like to see it lap the miles
And lick the valleys up.
In horrid, hooting stanza.
She also uses both assonance and consonance through the poem. You can hear the short vowel sounds of a, i, e, o and u in such words as lap, lick, step, stop, up repeating themselves, while the consonants p, l and s play against them in such words as lap , lick, step, stop, pile, prodigious, supercilious. Together the consonants and vowels produce a quick, rhythmical sound that imitates quite effectively the rhythmical sound of the wheels of a heavy locomotive as it speeds over miles of track through open country.
Miss Dickinson must have had fun getting such sound effects from words.
5. What is the form or pattern of the poem?
This is a short lyric of four stanzas of four lines each. The sixteen lines hurry along, making only one complete stop at the period which closes the final phrase, "At its own stable door". No regular rhyme scheme is found in this lyric. The poet uses alliteration and other sound devices instead of true rhyme.
6. Does the poem contain any allusions?
In the last stanza Miss Dickinson uses a proper name in the simile, "and neigh like Boanerges". Obviously she is using "Boanerges" to refer to a horse, but the name means "sons of thunder", a name given by Christ to the apostles James and John. One critic suggests that some famous horse of her day probably was called "Boanerges".