"There's No Frigate Like A Book"

Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's No Frigate Like A Book," is concerned with the theme of the self-discovery. The poet used the vehicle of books to explore other worlds than her own protected, isolated one. In her poetry, the power of words carry the reader into worlds of fantasy and imagination.

To assist in analyzing the poem, it is important to understand Dickinson's life history. During the latter period of her life, she became a recluse and her only means of diversion were books. She completely "withdrew from society." (Capps 21) Books were a risk-free way to explore the world without leaving the seclusion of her home.

In this poem, she uses many metaphors for travel such as: "frigate, chariots, and coursers." Yet one questions why she would use such fanciful words to describe such commonplace forms of transportation. One explanation is that she chose to use the poetic terms rather than the commonplace terms because she wanted to add an illusion of romance. These grandiose terms have more romantic connotations. They take the reader on a fanciful journeys to far off, exotic lands. She also refers to other forms of exotic transportation, including: "coursers," for horses and "chariot" for carriage. The term "courser" is a fanciful name are used to describe a spirited horse. In the former reference, she uses the simile, "coursers like a prancing page of poetry," to describe the rhythm of the verse. In the latter, a chariot is a vehicle which can either travel sw

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ng, took what she wanted, but did not attempt to criticize. She read everything without censure." (Capps, 25). She incorporated the best images and themes from other authors' works into her own. This is why there are similarities between her works and other authors of the her day. Yet, one of the greatest tragedies of Dickinson's life was that she was never recognized for her artistic abilities. Throughout her lifetime, she experienced the "privation of literary recognition." (Ostriker, 42) As an artist, this became a form of death to her, as if a bird was prey was swooping down on her to thwart her gaining recognition as an artist. It was as if this was a form of death, causing her great unhappiness throughout her life and was one of the reasons for her eventual withdrawal from society. Another motif that is related to self-discovery, is the theme of travel that is explored in many of Dickinson's poems. Fry states that: "Many poems speak of the exultation of search, the thrill of voyaging." (16) Dickinson refers to the image of: "the traverse may the poorest take." This can be seen as a metaphor for the journey that is taken through life, ending with death. Many of Dickinson's poems symbolically explore the theme of death w

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