Why Dickinson has compared books with means of transport?

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Thesis

The connotations Dickenson employs to express her theme, compares modes of transportation to forms of literature suggesting the journey the heart and mind takes when engulfed in a book or poetry is more powerful than a physical adventure, because the imagination can take you anywhere.

Analysis of "There is no Frigate like a Book"

In Emily Dickinson's "There is no Frigate like a Book" this upbeat lyrical poem shows the poets fascination with reading books and poetry. The connotations Dickenson employs to express her theme, compares modes of transportation to forms of literature suggesting the journey the heart and mind takes when engulfed in a book or poetry is more powerful than a physical adventure, because the imagination can take you anywhere. Additionally, Dickinson adds that the cost for the human mind to take a journey with the use of a book or poem is nominal and can be had by all who care to take it.

The words Dickinson chose to compare transportation to literature tend to be glamorous or romantic. Take for example the first verse, "there is no Frigate like a Book". A frigate is compared to a book. The literal meaning for the word frigate is a ship, but the connotation can mean an adventurous journey. Compare a trip on an airplane versus a trip on a cruise ship today. You might arrive at the same location eventually; however, the experiences are complexly different. The thought of an adventure on a ship tends to be leisurely and romantic and the plane ride being too swift to be eventful. This is followed by the verse "To take us lands away". The common definition for land is a solid surface of the earth, but a connotation for lands can also mean any distance real or imaginary. The use of the word lands can suggest distant places yet to be explored. Had Dickenson used the word miles in place of lands the suggestion may not have been as meaningful.

In the second stanza "Nor any Coursers like a Page / Of prancing Poetry (3-4)", Dickinson compares coursers to a page of poetry. The denotation of coursers in the plural sense is a group of swift horses. Dickinson compares yet another powerful and romantic form of transportation to a piece of literature. The connotation for coursers could be power, grace or beauty. The word courser changes the connotation in the next verse for the word prancing. By definition, prancing means to spring from the hind legs. Dickinson use of the word prancing in the verse after the use of coursers suggests prancing is more of a beautiful dance that is striking and graceful also suggesting poetry is beautiful and graceful. These first two stanzas set up Dickinson's theme and suggest there is nothing more powerful or beautiful than a book or poetry to take us on a journey into our imaginations.

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‘There is no Frigate like a Book’ is the title poem of a short book of poems that Dickinson published with young children in mind. The poems are illustrated with images that connect to the three poems in the volume. The other two poems are titled: ‘He ate and drank the precious words’ and ‘A Drop fell on the Apple Tree’. 

There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –

Summary

‘There is no Frigate like a Book’ by Emily Dickinson is a short poem that addresses the pleasures and accessibility of reading. 

The light-hearted tone of this charming piece of poetry engages the reader on themes of escape, adventure, and reading. She addresses the ease with which all people can find and explore books by using a metaphor that compares reading, favorably, to traveling. She uses several comparisons that argue that books are better modes of transportation, cheaper and farther reaching than any real road could be. 

Structure

‘There is no Frigate like a Book’ by Emily Dickinson is an eight-line poem that separated out into sets of four lines, known as quatrains. This particular poem, as are many of Dickinson’s poems, is written in ballad stanzas. These stanzas are reminiscent of church hymns. They follow a rhyme scheme of ABCB and use iambic tetrameter. Iambic tetrameter refers to the number of syllables, or beats, per line and where the stresses fall. One metrical foot, or set of two beats, in this poem, is made up of one unstressed and one stressed beat. There are a total of four “feet” per line. 

Literary Devices

Dickinson makes use of several literary devices in ‘There is no Frigate like a Book’. These include but are not limited to alliteration, enjambment, and metaphor. The latter is the most important by far. Within the poem, Dickinson creates several metaphors that help a reader connect the world of reading to that of traveling. Dickinson argues that traveling through literature is far more affordable, fun, and exciting than traveling on the road. 

Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example, “Page” and “Poetry” in lines three and four of the first quatrain and “Traverse” and “take” in line one of the second stanza. Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For example, the transition between lines one and two as well as three and four of the first quatrain. 

Detailed Analysis

Lines 1-4

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away,

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry –  

In the first line of ‘There is no Frigate like a Book,’ the speaker begins with the line that came to be used as the title of the poem. This was the case with most of Dickinson’s poems. She left the majority of them untitled and most are known by their first like and/or a number. The line compares a “Frigate,” or a large ship to a “Book”. 

A reader can intuit from just this first line what the speaker believes about the power of Books. They can, like large ships, take one to new places. They allow a reader to escape their normal, mundane world and visit new ones. It is also important to note that the speaker says that there is “no Frigate like a Book”. This means that she sees Books as being far superior to all ships. They are even better at letting one escape their day to day life than a ship.

A similar comparison is crafted in the third and fourth lines. Here, the speaker compares a Book to a “courser” or a horse. This kind of horse is high energy, ready, and able to run. It can physically take one new location but “a Page” is even better at this task. It is revealed in the fourth line that the speaker is interested in Books of poetry rather than novels or works of non-fiction. She uses personification to describe the pages of a Book of poetry as “prancing”. This connects back to the image of the horse in like three. 

Lines 5-8 

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll –

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears a Human soul.

In the second stanza of ‘There is no Frigate like a Book,’ the speaker uses a metaphor that places reading above “Travers[ing]” or traveling. It is accessible even to the “poorest”. One can find and read Books without paying a “Toll” such as that one would find along the road. 

The affordability of reading, as a reason to love it, is continued in the third line of this stanza. The speaker says, through an additional metaphor, that it is “frugal” or cheap to take a ride through literature. Books are the “Chariot” that “bears the Human soul”. This metaphor has possible mythological and religious allusions. Dickinson might be considering the path of the human soul from birth to death and/or the ride that one takes away from their everyday life into the unknown. 

What means of transportation is Dickinson comparing a book to?

Why Dickinson has compared books with means of transport explain her purpose of writing There is no Frigate like a Book?

What is the main idea of a book by Emily Dickinson?

What figure of speech is basic to the poem There is no Frigate like a Book?