I like to see it lap the Miles Summary & Analysis

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Emily Dickinson wrote "I like to see it lap the Miles" sometime between 1858 and 1862. The poem describes a steam train as it travels through the surrounding landscape. Imagining the train as a giant horse, the speaker marvels at its wild and unrivaled strength, speed, and power. The poem never explicitly names its main subject, taking on a riddle-like quality also found in Dickinson poems like "A Route of Evanescence" and "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass."

The Full Text of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

1 I like to see it lap the Miles —

2 And lick the Valleys up —

3 And stop to feed itself at Tanks —

4 And then — prodigious step

5 Around a Pile of Mountains —

6 And supercilious peer

7 In Shanties — by the sides of Roads —

8 And then a Quarry pare

9 To fit its sides

10 And crawl between

11 Complaining all the while

12 In horrid — hooting stanza —

13 Then chase itself down Hill —

14 And neigh like Boanerges —

15 Then — prompter than a Star

16 Stop — docile and omnipotent

17 At its own stable door —

The Full Text of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

1 I like to see it lap the Miles —

2 And lick the Valleys up —

3 And stop to feed itself at Tanks —

4 And then — prodigious step

5 Around a Pile of Mountains —

6 And supercilious peer

7 In Shanties — by the sides of Roads —

8 And then a Quarry pare

9 To fit its sides

10 And crawl between

11 Complaining all the while

12 In horrid — hooting stanza —

13 Then chase itself down Hill —

14 And neigh like Boanerges —

15 Then — prompter than a Star

16 Stop — docile and omnipotent

17 At its own stable door —

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Summary

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Themes

The Wonder of Technology

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Lines 1-2

Lines 3-5

Lines 6-7

Lines 8-12

And then a Quarry pare
To fit its sides
And crawl between
Complaining all the while
In horrid — hooting stanza —

Lines 13-14

Lines 15-17

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Alliteration

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Allusion

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Anaphora

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Caesura

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Consonance

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Enjambment

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Extended Metaphor

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Simile

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“I like to see it lap the Miles” Vocabulary

• Lap
• Tanks
• Prodigious
• Supercilious
• Peer
• Shanties
• Quarry
• Pare
• Boanerges
• Prompter
• Docile
• Omnipotent
• Stable

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Form

Meter

Rhyme Scheme

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Speaker

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

More “I like to see it lap the Miles” Resources

External Resources

• In Our Time Podcast — Experts talk about Emily Dickinson's life and work on the BBC's In Our Time podcast/radio show.
• Dickinson's Biography — A valuable Dickinson resource from the Poetry Foundation.
• A History of the Steam Train — A look at the story behind this much-loved mode of transport.
• The Dickinson Museum — The Emily Dickinson Museum, situated in the poet's old house, offers many resources for students.
• A Dickinson Documentary — Watch a short educational film on Dickinson's life and poetry.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

• A Bird, came down the Walk
• After great pain, a formal feeling comes –
• A Light exists in Spring
• A Murmur in the Trees—to note—
• A narrow Fellow in the Grass
• An awful Tempest mashed the air—
• As imperceptibly as grief
• A still—Volcano—Life—
• Because I could not stop for Death —
• Before I got my eye put out
• Fame is a fickle food
• Hope is the thing with feathers
• I cannot live with You –
• I cautious, scanned my little life
• I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—
• I did not reach Thee
• I died for Beauty—but was scarce
• I dreaded that first Robin, so
• I dwell in Possibility –
• I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
• If I can stop one heart from breaking
• I had been hungry, all the Years
• I have a Bird in spring
• I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
• I like a look of Agony
• I measure every Grief I meet
• I’m Nobody! Who are you?
• I started Early — Took my Dog —
• I taste a liquor never brewed
• It was not Death, for I stood up
• I—Years—had been—from Home—
• Like Rain it sounded till it curved
• Much Madness is divinest Sense -
• My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun
• Nature is what we see
• One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted
• Publication — is the Auction
• Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
• Shipwreck
• Success is counted sweetest
• Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
• The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
• The Bustle in a House
• The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants
• There came a Wind like a Bugle
• There is no Frigate like a Book
• There's a certain Slant of light
• There's been a Death, in the Opposite House
• The saddest noise, the sweetest noise
• The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean
• The Soul has bandaged moments
• The Soul selects her own Society
• The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –
• They shut me up in Prose –
• This is my letter to the world
• This World is not Conclusion
• 'Twas the old—road—through pain—
• We grow accustomed to the Dark
• What mystery pervades a well!
• Whose cheek is this?
• Wild nights - Wild nights!

1 I like to see it lap the Miles —

2 And lick the Valleys up —

3 And stop to feed itself at Tanks —

4 And then — prodigious step

5 Around a Pile of Mountains —

6 And supercilious peer

7 In Shanties — by the sides of Roads —

8 And then a Quarry pare

9 To fit its sides

10 And crawl between

11 Complaining all the while

12 In horrid — hooting stanza —

13 Then chase itself down Hill —

14 And neigh like Boanerges —

15 Then — prompter than a Star

16 Stop — docile and omnipotent

17 At its own stable door —

Lines 3-4

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