There Is No Frigate Like A Book By Emily Dickinson Essay

The written word has long been recognized a powerful medium for communication. Dickinson, one of the great American poets, recognizes and lauds this fact in her poems. In a time when travel and communication were much harder books provided much of the knowledge and understanding of the reaches of the world. Throughout her poem “There is no Frigate like a Book”, Dickinson make the case that one can travel through books and books stand as one of the best modes of traveling through careful word choice, imagery, and emphasis.
In “There is no Frigate like a Book” Dickinson uses different aspects of poetry to emphasize how reading is similar to travelling. One of the most obvious ways this is seen is the author’s word choice. Dickinson uses “Frigate” (“no Frigate,” line 1), which is a type of boat; “Coursers” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 3), a type of horses; and finally “Chariot” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 7). By using these varied kind of travel in her poem the author stimulates the reader’s imagination, causing them to visualize these differing modes of transport and the places they might take one too. Her poem does exactly what she describes literature as doing, transporting the reader to different locations through their imagination. The words also emphasize that whether land or sea, no matter where
the reader wants to go, books can transport them there.
One interesting similarity of all the modes of transport mentioned in “There is no Frigate like a Book” is they were all relatively fast ways to travel.
“Frigates” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 1) were small, quick ships. Coursers (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 3) were fast horses. Chariots (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 7) were designed for speed. With this word selection Dickinson also subtly shows that books are a quicker way to travel, as the reader can arrive at their destination almost instantaneously. Considering the time travel took to reach distant locations when this poem was written, this becomes a significant point in favor of literature and
reading.
The second half of the poem emphasizes how much less it costs to travel by book. For many in Dickinson’s day, the cost of travel was prohibitory. In line 5 the author compares books to a “Traverse”, or a means of crossing a span, but unlike other bridges, this one has no “Toll” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 6) to “oppress” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 6) the crossers. The image in these lines indicates that books span across, what seems like impossible obstacles. The next line describes books as a “frugal” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 7) mode of transport, further emphasizing that all can afford to use it.
Finally, the poem touches on what books transport. Dickinson does not say they transport the imagination, mind, or heart, but instead she claims they “bear the Human soul” (Dickinson, “no Frigate,” line 8). In a sense, the author conveys that books can transport the very essence of a person, their beliefs, values, morality, and desires. As they can do this literature has the capability to impact and change a person at the core of their being. This final point is perhaps one of the strongest for Dickinson’s strongest for reading. Books have just as much capacity to impact a person as actual travel can, if not more.