From A Railway Carriage

UNIT 2

Poem

From A Railway Carriage

WARM UP

Read the title. 

* What do you think the poem is about?

* Have you been on a train?

* Close your eyes and think about the moving scene outside a train window.

* Take turns in class to describe one image that crossed your mind.

eg. I saw a tea vendor run past the window; I saw tall trees flash past...

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road,

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone forever!

                                                                                               - Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 Nov 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer. His famous works are ‘Treasure Island’, ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde’ and ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’.

GLOSSARY

 Charge- To make a rush at or sudden attack upon a person or thing

Clamber -Climb or move in an awkward and laborious way using both hands and feet

Brambles-A prickly scrambling shrub of the rose family especially a blackberry

Tramp- A person who travels from place to place on foot in search of work or as a beggar

Stringing -Hang so that it stretches in a long line

Lumping- Carry with difficulty

Glimpse - See or perceive briefly or partially