A Book
art & creativity
lyric poem
joyful
There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul!
A Book - context Summary
Inward Journeys, 1876
Written in 1876 and published in 1896 in Poems by Emily Dickinson, Third Series, "A Book" frames reading as a form of travel available to anyone. Dickinson, who led a largely reclusive life, treats books and poems as vessels and steeds that carry the soul beyond physical limits. The poem emphasizes imagination’s accessibility and economy: one need not pay a toll to be transported. Its context in Dickinson’s life underlines how inward journeys through literature substituted for external travel.
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