Travel

Edna St. Vincent Millay

The railroad track is miles away,

And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn’t a train goes by,

Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with the friends I make,

And better friends I’ll not be knowing;
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
No matter where it’s going.

This piece is a 3 stanza poem divided into quatrains. The rhyme scheme repeatedly
emphasizes “b” phrases in order to create continuity and direction in the piece. The piece could
be a metaphor where the train represents mental torment or depression. This negative
connotation toward the train is exacerbated by her syntax (shrieking, cinders red on the sky).
Millay describes her inability to rid herself of the shrieking sounds of the train except during
sleep. Later, she states that although she has a wonderful network of friends, she would always
take the opportunity to leave. Millay’s mundane or indifferent depiction of depression in which
she utilizes plain, matter-of-fact language to describe this looming entity varies greatly from the
almost romanticized depictions of Dickinson.