Emily Dickinson’s “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Emily Dickinson’s “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Mastercraftsman and talented mystical investigator Emily Dickinson composed several poems that function somewhat like riddles; they do not mention their subject, which can be determined only by correctly interpreting the poetic devices.

Introduction and Text of “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Emily Dickinson composed most of her poems, focusing and delving into profound themes: life, death, the afterlife (immortality), and complex human relationships.  However, the reclusive poet also composed a number of poems that show a propensity for pure fun.  

These poems may be rightfully called riddles as they only suggest the subject, allowing the reader to suss out what the subject is.  “I like to see it lap the Miles” remains one of her most anthologized efforts, which teachers like to use to entice student’s poetic prowess.

I like to see it lap the Miles

I like to see it lap the Miles –
And lick the Valleys up –
And stop to feed itself at Tanks –
And then – prodigious step

Around a Pile of Mountains –
And supercilious peer
In Shanties – by the sides of Roads –
And then a Quarry pare

To fit its Ribs
And crawl between
Complaining all the while
In horrid – hooting stanza –
Then chase itself down Hill –

And neigh like Boanerges –
Then – punctual as a Star
Stop – docile and omnipotent
At its own stable door –

Commentary on “I like to see it lap the Miles”

The poem “I like to see it lap the Miles” plays out in four stanzas with the first, second, and fourth containing four lines, and the third five lines.  This poem presents a double metaphor making it also a double riddle.  Two questions arise regarding its contents:  Who (or what) is the actor in the poem?  What is the actor doing?

First Stanza:  What the Speaker Likes

I like to see it lap the Miles –
And lick the Valleys up –
And stop to feed itself at Tanks –
And then – prodigious step

The first stanza finds the speaker asserting that she likes, “to see it lap the Miles / And lick the Valleys up / And stop to feed itself at Tanks.”

The “it” of this riddle/poem seems to be an animal gulping up water perhaps, and nipping at a salt lick or gobbling food; however, it then does what an animal would never do when it stops to “feed itself at Tanks.”

Second Stanza:  First Blush Inaccurate

Around a Pile of Mountains –
And supercilious peer
In Shanties – by the sides of Roads –
And then a Quarry pare

This subject may at first seem like an animal, likely a horse, but it becomes clear that it is not a horse.  It has to be a subject more powerful; it has the ability to “step” “Around a Pile of Mountains.”

Third Stanza:  What No Animal Can Do

To fit its Ribs
And crawl between
Complaining all the while
In horrid – hooting stanza –
Then chase itself down Hill –

In addition to gaining speed around a mountain, this subject can peep into the little “shanties” along the way.  Also, this subject can cut out enough room for it to fit the mountain, “To . . . its Ribs.”

Even though the subject itself could not possibly have carved out its own way through the mountain, and it was necessary for some other object to do so, this procedure was previously accomplished, so the speaker leaves it in something of a blur.

This stanza affirms that the subject is not an animal: it makes a noise “in horrid – hooting stanza.”  While owls might make hooting sounds, surely no owl could have performed the tasks that this one has already done.  Thus horse clearly presents itself as a candidate as a metaphor for something.   

Fourth Stanza:  Biblical Allusion

And neigh like Boanerges –
Then – punctual as a Star
Stop – docile and omnipotent
At its own stable door –

The final piece of the description shows the subject as it “chase[s] itself down Hill” while it “neigh[s] like Boanerges.”   “Boanerges” is a term found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible at Mark 3:17, indicating “sons of thunder,” an appellation Jesus Christ applied to John and James because they so loudly displayed their zeal for evangelizing.   

Finally, the subject arrives on time at its destination, heralding the end of this trip.  It becomes “docile and omnipotent / At its own stable door.”   While the metaphor of a horse continued throughout the description in the poem, readers/listeners will at last understand that the subject is, in fact, a train, which is, of course, not a biological horse but is, indeed, an “iron horse.”  

Thus the answers to the beginning questions:  (1) it is a train (2) traveling through the countryside, ultimately arriving on time at its appointed destination.