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 sides
And crawl between
Complaining all the while
In horrid—hooting stanza—
Then chase itself down Hill—
And neigh like Boanerges—
Then—prompter than a star
Stop—docile and omnipotent
At its own stable door—Emily Dickinson,
c. 1862, pub. 1891Language as Object: Emily Dickinson and Contemporary Art -- links to Dickinson online
for educational use only by students of D. Reiss, site developed March 2001 by D. Reiss
The Pacific Railroad
Harper's Weekly 1857-1916
(select "The American West">Railroads>click image for enlargement)
May 29, 1869, pages 348, 341 & 342 (Illustrated Article)
see also Rain, Steam, and Speed--The Great Western Railway, 1844, by J.M.W. Turner, best known for his landscapes and views of Venice, in the National Gallery, London. This engine is described by William S. Rodner: "the locomotive's bright, frontal luminescence, completes the overall sensation of a machine of enormous concentrated power, one that can be seen, felt, and given the proper leap of imagination, heard...." (J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution, U of California Press, 1997: 147).
