“I like to see it lap the Miles” Introduction

• Read the full text of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Summary

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Themes

• 

  The Wonder of Technology

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

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

• Lines 1-2

  I like to see it lap the Miles —
  And lick the Valleys up —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 3-5

  And stop to feed itself at Tanks —
  And then — prodigious step
  Around a Pile of Mountains —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 6-7

  And supercilious peer
  In Shanties — by the sides of Roads —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 8-12

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

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 13-14

  Then chase itself down Hill —
  And neigh like Boanerges —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 15-17

  Then — prompter than a Star
  Stop — docile and omnipotent
  At its own stable door —

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

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

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Simile

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“I like to see it lap the Miles” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

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

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

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—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • 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!