There Is No Frigate Like A Book Alliteration

The human imagination is powerful and takes people to places fantasy. Albert Einstein said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere.” In the poem “There is no Frigate like a Book” by Emily Dickenson, the author uses alliteration, simile, metaphor, and imagery to portray the theme that a person’s imagination, through reading, can take them on an adventure far better than any physical trip could. Emily Dickenson’s use of alliteration stirs the reader’s imagination to roam freely. The first instance of alliteration happens in lines three and four. Dickenson writes, “like a page of prancing poetry,” her use of the hard “p” sound emphasizes movement. This idea of movement is seen throughout the poem in its use of words …show more content…
The first simile used is “There is no Frigate like a Book,” the comparison here is that of a book to a boat and in Dickenson’s mind the boat does not compare. Dickenson starts out this poem by saying a boat that can take people to a far away land cannot compare to a book. The next simile uses is “Nor any Coursers like a Page.” A Courser is a knight’s horse and it not being able to compare to that of a page. This simile allows the reader to believe that reading can take us on an adventure better than both a boat and a knights horse traveling on a far away journey. Then an extended metaphor is used comparing a free journey and a “chariot” or a person’s body, which takes a reader on these journeys. The fact that Dickenson says there is no “oppress of Toll,” that this journey is cheap just like our body that “bears the Human Soul.” This metaphor is comparing a free journey and the cheapness of going on a journey through reading. These similes and metaphors used in this poem articulates that the human imagination can take people on an adventure far superior to that of boats, horses, and …show more content…
The first image the reader thinks about is a ship sailing to far away lands. In lines one and two the speaker compares a book to a Frigate, a Frigate is a battleship and the speaker is producing an image of a boat traveling the oceans to far away lands. The imagery takes a reader on a far away journey and in their mind and the author wants to point out that a book is even better at taking the reader on these journey’s than an actual boat. The second image the poem paints is of a knight on a horse prancing through medieval cities in lines 3 and 4. Like stated above, the alliteration of the words starting with “p” makes the readers imagination kick in and takes them on this ride on horseback. The speaker brings the imagery of this scene back into focus by comparing it to pages of a book, which in turn creates more imager. The last image created is of a car going through a tollbooth to a new place. The scene produced by the imagination of the readers is dependent on their own life experiences. For me personally, I think of my childhood, every summer my family and I would travel to Ocean City, MD and go over the Bay Bridge. I always remember stopping at the toll so we could continue our journey to the beach, but in this poem the speaker compares this journey to that of reading. Reading, in reference to this poem is completely free and the readers imagination can take them on