From A Railway Carriage – by Robert Louis Stevenson
Class: 6th Standard | Subject: English | Type: Poem | Syllabus: SCERT New Syllabus (2nd Term, Unit 2)
About the Poet
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer. He is best known for his famous works such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and A Child's Garden of Verses. The poem "From A Railway Carriage" is from A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), a collection of poetry written for children that captures the wonder and imagination of childhood experiences.
The Poem
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 forever!