FOCUS IS ON TRAVEL AND TOURISM LOTS OF DESCRIPTIVES / COMPARISONS AND NARRATIVES

WE LOOK FIRST AT THE UNLIKELY EFFECT OF A NEW FORM OF TRANSPORT -

WATCH AND LEARN . . .

NOW LET US DEVELOP OUR VOCABULARY -

SONG ABOUT A FAMOUS FERRY

NOW A POEM ABOUT A TRAIN JOURNEY

R L Stevenson’s ‘From a Railway Carriage’

‘From a Railway Carriage’ belongs to a considerable poetic tradition: that of conveying the experience of a railway journey through the rhythm of the verse. Written a short time after the famous Treasure Island story. ‘From a Railway Carriage’ is a masterly piece of versification, using its sprightly rhythm to evoke the movement of a train.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river;
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!