Train Journey Essay Questions

How does the poem's form relate to its content?

This poem resembles an English sonnet with the addition of an extra couplet at the end. Also known as a Shakespearian sonnet, this form is divided into three quatrains and a final concluding couplet, and usually focuses on the emotional experiences involved in love. The final couplet often resolves or complicates the entire poem. Though "Train Journey" is not written in iambic pentameter and it includes an extra couplet, the poem resembles the Shakespearian sonnet in that the speaker expresses her love for the "country that built [her] heart." It's a complicated relationship because the speaker is concerned that the drought afflicting the landscape will make it so that all life is unsustainable. The dreamlike atmosphere of the poem is assisted by the loose, slant rhymes (for example, the consonance in "sense" and "dance" help create a rhythm). In the final couplet, the speaker witnesses a mysterious image that has spiritual and metaphysical connotations: the dark small trees suddenly burn into flowers lovelier than the moon. Ending with this image suggests that there is no definite and concluding logic to the speaker's relationship to nature, and that witnessing and appreciating nature's beauty is enough.

What is significant about the personification of the land in this poem?

In "Train Journey," the land is personified as the body of a woman and as a mother figure. The "delicate dry breasts" of the land suggest that drought has made it difficult to sustain any life (human or otherwise) due to lack of water and nutrients in the soil. Wright is not the first to personify the earth as a woman. The trope of "mother earth" is common in many cultures, due to the nurturing that nature provides. The etymology of the word "nature" comes from the Latin "natura," which means birth. The speaker's anxiety that the earth will not be able to provide for her children could reflect a worry in the poet's own life as a mother and environmentalist.

Some scholars in the field of ecofeminism have critiqued the trope of personifying the earth as female and as a mother. The argument is that this personification supports the thought that both women and nature exist to be controlled and exploited. In "Train Journey," certain lines have been criticized for ascribing to this gendered violence. For example, the speaker tells the trees to "Break with your violent root the virgin rock." However, the poem does not end here, but rather with the speaker witnessing a beautiful and mysterious transformation in which the trees suddenly burn into flowers. This imagery aligns more with a spiritual and metaphysical experience than with a political argument concerning gender and the environment.

Why might Wright have chosen the box-tree and ironbark to mention specifically in the poem?

Box-tree and ironbark are types of eucalyptus characterized by their rough and strong bark. Significantly, they are both native species to Australia. This detail alone suggests that they evolved to sustain themselves in challenging conditions such as drought. The speaker seems to realize the trees' capacity for resilience towards the end of the poem. While the speaker acknowledges the trees' vulnerability by calling them dark and small, she also observes them burning into flowers lovelier than the moon.