6. Summary of the poem

The poem "From a Railway Carriage" is about the experience of the poet "R.L. Stevenson" during his train travel. He has written the poem very expressively that we also travel along with him, in his railway carriage. He says that the train travelled much faster than imaginary characters like fairies and witches. He saw bridges, houses, hedges, and ditches along the way. He felt the train charged forward like troops of soldiers in a battlefield, who were ready to attack. He saw many brightly painted stations along the way, as he heard the whistles that indicated the arrival of the stations. But all these sights flew past him in a wink of an eye, because the train was speeding fast.

 

The poet saw a child, scrambling up brambles to gather some blackberry fruits. He also saw a tramp who was standing and gazing at the things happening around him. Some people were stringing daisies to make garlands from it. He saw a cart that was lumping along laboriously with the weight of a man and the cartload. Finally, he saw a mill and a river. The poet saw all these sights only in a glimpse, as the train sped away - leaving the images behind them.