From A Railway Carriage poem by Robert Louis Stevenson Tnpsc

From A Railway Carriage Summary

This poem is written by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson. The poet writes about his experience during his train travel. The poem is written expressively about his travel experience by train.

The poem expresses the joy, he got while travelling on the train. The poem compares the trains with fairies and witches.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road,
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!

About the Poet

The poem was written by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 Nov 1850 – 3 Dec 1894). Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist. He was also a poet, essayist, musician and travel writer.

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Poems Explanation

Lines 1 to 4

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,----------------1
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:-------4

In these lines, the poet compares trains with some natural and unnatural objects. The poet compares the speed of the train with fairies, and witches.

Also, they travel through the bridges, passing along the houses, passing along the hedges which are fences or boundaries formed closely by bushes or shrubs. Also, the train passes along the ditches

The poet says that the trains travel faster than fairies and witches. In lines 3 and 4, the poet compares the train with troops, that charges the battle. Also compares the trains with cattle and horses that travel through the meadows.

Fairy is a mythical being or creature or spirit, which is found in european folks, stories etc. Fairy said to be live in woodland, inhabit hills or lakes, underground kingdoms etc.

Fairies

Witches are a woman thought to have magical powers, mostly they are evil ones.

Witches

It is a piece of grassland or a piece of low ground near a river.

Meadow

It is a narrow channel dug at side of road or field to carry away water.

Ditch

Rhyming Words

The rhyming words from lines 1 to 4 are:

• Witches-ditches
• Battle- cattle

Rhymig Scheme

The rhyming scheme from lines 1 to 4 are:

• AABB

Lines 5 to 8

All of the sights of the hill and the plain---------------------------5
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.----------------------------------------8

The poet expresses his experience with train in lines 5 to 8. He says, the sights such as hills and plains, travel by. And compares the speed of the train with raindrops that fall rapidly and differentiate between drops, a wink of an eye, and the sights or views the train passes by.

In line 8, the poet says, that the train passes the railway station by blowing the whistles.

Rhyming Words

The rhyming words from lines 5 to 8 are:

• Plain-rain
• Eye-by

Rhyming Scheme

• AABB

Lines 9 to 12

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,--------9
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!--------12

In lines 9 and 10, the poet compares, a child who is trying the climb the trees with great difficulty (“Here is a child who clamber and scrambles), using his hand and feet in a very awkward manner.

The child climbs, the tree to pick the bramble.

It is prickly scrambling shrub especially a blckberry.

Bramblesw

Rhyming Words

The rhyming words from lines 9 to 12 are:

• scrambles-brambles
• Grazes-Daises

Rhyming Scheme

• AABB

In lines 11 and 12, the poet describes a tramp. Tramp is a homeless person who travels in search of work and food. He does not have any time restrictions.

Then the poet sees a green land as the train moves. And there were people who were making garlands with daisy flowers.

Here is a cart run away in the road,--------------13
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!----------------16

The poet sees cart in the road with load, and the man moving it slowly and the heavy cart on the road. The poet also sees a mill, river once from the train along the tracks.

The poet sees these visuals of mill and river just for a moment as the trains moves away from them.

Rhyming Words

The rhyming words from lines 9 to 12 are:

• Road-Load
• River-Forever

Rhyming Scheme

• AABB