Page 3 - LESSON NOTES-FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE

Now, lets understand the SUMMARY

Stanza-1&2
The poet describes his experience while travelling on a train. He says that the train is faster than
mythical creatures like fairies and witches. The train rushes past bridges and houses, hedges
and ditches. All through the meadows, horses and cattle charge along like troops in a battle.
The poet talks about the scenery and the creatures that he can see through the train windows.
The horses and cattle seem like soldiers charging into battle. All the sights of hills and plains fly
as thick as driving rain. The train is so fast that it makes everything outside look like rain.
And in the wink of an eye, painted stations whistle by. The train goes past colourful stations
very quickly.

Stanza-3&4

The poet describes the scenes he sees outside the train. A child moves awkwardly all by
himself and gets prickly shrubs or brambles on his body. A tramp stands and
gazes somewhere. There are also some people who are stringing daisies into garlands in a
green meadow. He also sees a cart lumping along the road with a man and a load. He sees
a mill and a river, too. He only catches a glimpse of every one of these scenes, and then they
are gone forever. The poet can only see everything for a tiny second because of the speed of
the train.
A train ride is indeed a wonderful journey. The speed of the train makes it seem like everything
is rushing past us. We catch glimpses of many different things and activities when we look at the
view from a railway carriage.

ACTIVITY (Art & Imagination – Integrated )
Draw a sketch Train and the outside view during the journey and can create a small poem
based on your experience on Train journey.

Themes:

Stevenson’s “From a Railway Carriage” explores the theme of a train journey. The main narrative
runs on the basis of the scenes captured from a moving train through the eyes of a child. Each
scene is depicted as it unfolds in front of his eyes. The bridges and houses, hedges and ditches
all move in the opposite direction to the moving train swiftly. Throughout the piece, the speaker
goes on to describe each prominent figure/scene that captures his attention. In the second
stanza, he becomes particular about the child, tramp, and cart and spends a line or two
describing their activities. Overall, the poem resonates with the rhythm and speed of a
locomotive rushing through long distances.

SIS/Cl-VI/English/LESSON NOTES/From a Railway Carriage Page 3