The Railway Train
Emily Dickinson, 1896

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 Boanerges1;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop—docile and omnipotent—
At its own stable door.

1The name of a thoroughbred race horse famous in North America in the late 19th century



The name of a thoroughbred race horse famous in North America in the late 19th century


Which of the following describes a theme in this poem that was also important during the late 19th century?


Change is destructive to nature.

Modern machines bring many changes.

Nature can be found in everything.

Simplicity is the best way of life.