There is no Frigate like a Book (1286)
BY 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 –
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”.
