Analysis of I Like To See It Lap The Mil

I like to see it lap the miles, about) the expansion of civilization and economy
And lick the valleys up, through railway.

And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step The words I am going to focus on are mainly: lick,
lap, feed, pile, and shanties. Besides, I will
Around a pile of mountains, mention the instance of carrying stones from a
And, supercilious, peer quarry and try to interpret the action as one of
In shanties by the sides of roads; those of the capitalists. Let me interpret the
And then a quarry pare words first. The word ‘lick’ is simple enough to
imitate the cozy and friendly behavior of a puppy.
To fit its sides, and crawl between, But ‘lick’ also means taking something off a
Complaining all the while surface, and combined with ‘lap’, it means wiping
In horrid, hooting stanza; something completely. The train licks and laps
Then chase itself down hill the resources, woods and water, from nature. The
word ‘feed’ also adds to the idea of devouring
And neigh like Boanerges; resources. Steam engines that pulled the trains in
Then, punctual as a star, the early days of railway, and the construction of
Stop--docile and omnipotent-- railway tracks needed a huge amount of wood as
At its own stable door. fuel and slippers. The expansion of railway
carried economy farther into the country, but at
prodigious: enormous; the same time it consumed much. On this note I
supercilious: condescending, arrogant, proud; want to introduce the idea of capitalism for the
Boanerges: a name Christ gave to the disciples first time. Capitalism, as a system, usually use up
James and John, meaning "sons of thunder"; also, a whatever cheap labour and resources available
loud preacher or orator; wherever, without reserve. It consumes
docile: obedient, submissive; everything as the train consumes (lap) the
omnipotent: all powerful. distance (miles).
I Like to See It Lap the Miles The other words that, according to me, deserve
note are ‘pile’ and ‘shanties’. Both have a
I Like to See It Lap the Miles is a poem by belittling effect on the readers as ‘pile’ is a small
Dickinson where the speaker describes a train in mound of earth or pebbles; and ‘shanties’ are
motion and standstill through the help of small, wooden shacks of the poor. The words can
personification. The whole poem presents a be interpreted in more than one way. The
visual image combined with auditory and mountains are compared to ‘piles’. It may be that
kinesthetic images where the train, with its the mountains are at a distance from the rail
power and speed, is envisioned as a stallion. But track, and due to the distance they appear small
at the same time, I think, it gives us insight into as a pile. It may be that the speed of the train
the nature of expansion and exploration. gives the passengers too little time to take in the
grandeur of the mountains, thus reducing them
The poem, consisting only 16 lines, is simple to mere piles. Or it may mean that, in comparison
enough on the surface. But the diction belies the to the train as an awe inspiring object, the
seeming simplicity. The speaker describes mountains have become insignificant. The train
his/her liking of a speeding train and interprets is an achievement in itself. Man has harnessed
its movements from his/her own point of view. the energy of steam—this harnessing is no small
The train moves, hoots, drinks, stops—but all thing. This can remove the awe in man faced with
these are described firstly using animal imagery; the mountains. With the invention of steam
and secondly with a hint of criticism. I wish to engine and railway system, man has the power
focus on its diction to show how the poem can be and confidence to overcome the mountains. To
interpreted as a comment on (and a warning man, the mountains do not seem that great
1
anymore. Similarly, the contentedness resulting
from the harnessing of steam power and building
a magnificent monster (the train), can easily
make them look down upon everything else. The
modest abodes around the track turn to shanties
with the advent of the railway. And if I wish to
bring up the issue of capitalism for the second
time, it will be here, in relation to this idea.
Expanding capitalism always makes the existing
economic system appear poor. The houses
around the railway tracks turn into mere
shanties, because the train carries economic
flourish leaving the others poor.
The action described in the poem that directly

brings the basic trait of capitalism to my mind is
the incident of bringing stones from a quarry to
the town. The system of capitalism dips its beak
wherever possible to suck up whatever it can to
develop itself. Carrying the stones is a simple act,
as it may be brought just to build the town (or to
improve the shanties into buildings); but it
reminds me of the British Empire, how it worked,
how it expanded itself, how it devoured. Besides,
the train carrying loads returning to the stable,
brings another image to my mind. The load-
bearing train, blackened with soot (as usually all
steam-run trains were) reminds me of the black
slaves serving the capitalistic, colonizing empire.
The negro slave-trains from Africa, transported
to America, were omnipotent, yet docile just as
the train is. It may seem far-fetched, but I think
this is the image that stamps the presence of
capitalism in the poem.
A question may arise, then, that whether the

speaker is in favour of capitalism, as the first line
states: I like to see it………. . I am not sure of it as
the rest of the poem offers only the description
of the train’s movements. I don’t have anything
conclusive on this issue, but the poem obviously
offers insight into the nature of capitalism
through its words and images.

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I like to see it lap the miles, about) the expansion of civilization and economy

And lick the valleys up, through railway.

The action described in the poem that directly

A question may arise, then, that whether the

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