I like to see it lap the Miles

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 Ribs

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

Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems Summary and

Analysis of "I like to see it lap the Miles --"

Summary
This poem, although the subject is never named explicitly, only referred to as
it, is about a train. The speaker enjoys watching this train traveling through
the country (I like to see it lap the Miles ), imagining it as a kind of giant
horse figure, going fast and far and licking up the country side (And lick the
Valleys up ). She imagines it feeding itself at tanksostensibly, either
filling with new passengers at train stations, or being refueled (And stop to
feed itself at Tanks ).

Its size and might are such that it can take a giant (prodigious) step /
Around a Pile of Mountains . Because of its pride in its own great power and
speed, it looks in arrogantly when it passes shacks (And supercilious peer /
In Shanties) that are along the road (by the sides of Roads ). So too can it
cut into a quarry as if it were a fruit (And then a Quarry pare) so that there
is room for the tracks (To fit its Ribs).

When it must crawl more slowly through a tight space, she imagines its
sounds (In horrid hooting stanza ) are those of Complaining. Its sounds
are prouder, louder (And neigh like Boanerges ), when it can move faster
(chase itself down Hill ). Finally, it punctually stops at its resting place
(punctual as a Star), and becomes completely quiet, although it is still
powerful (docile and omnipotent / At its own stable door ).

Analysis
I like to see it lap the Miles highlights Dickinsons taste for riddlesthey
recur almost constantly in her poems. Although this is certainly not one of
her most difficult ones, the whole poem is framed as a riddlewhat is this
horse-like creature that can lick the Valleys up? The riddle in this poem is
not just there for its own sake, however; it emphasizes the disconnect
between this mysterious creature and the natural world it inhabits and
imitates.

Dickinson gives the train agency in the poemit laps, it licks, it feeds itself,
it crawlsand emotionsit is supercilious, it complains. In doing so, she is
not just complicating the riddle, she is creating an implicit comparison
between this train and all the creatures of the natural world that actually do
feed themselves, crawl, complain. By describing it in the language of the
natural world, she creates a striking juxtaposition between it and that world.

And although the speaker says she likes to watch it do all of these things, her
tone and diction belie this statement. She does not seem to like its power,
how it can lap the Miles and lick the Valleys up, and take but one
prodigious step around, not just one mountain, but a Pile of Mountains.
Her description of it as supercilious is certainly explicitly negative, and she
does not seem to like the way it can carve space out To fit its Ribs,
transforming the natural world for its self-centered needs.

Its sounds are described in the most negative sensehorrid hooting and
complainingand the description of its downhill speed as chasing itself
down Hill casts significant doubt on its intelligence. Indeed, this creature
even seems to be impinging on her own role as poet, as its complaints are in
horrid, hooting stanza, thus in poetic form, although clearly not well done
as the alliterated adjectives emphasize. So while the speaker claims to like
watching this spectacle, she certainly does not like the creature itself,
whether she likes the process of observing it or not.

The trains explicitly negative characteristics are all framed to be applicable

to real creatures, tooin fact, much more so than machines, which cant be
supercilious or complaininghowever, they are combined with the
trains great powerit is omnipotent, which makes them all the more
irritating and disturbing. It is a blight on the natural world, taking on its more
negative characteristics and combining them with too much power. Indeed,
the fact that she never names the train explicitly seems to reflect that it is
not meant for this world and doesnt fit in at all.