Question

In emily dickinson's poem, the railway train, which type of figurative language is used most pervasively to describe the train?

Answer 1

In the poem, the speaker describes the journey of a strange creature that resembles a horse. The speaker describes the speed of the creature, its feeding process, and how it moves around mountains and over hills. The creature passes through a tunnel where it makes a hooting noise. It sounds like “Boanerges.” (In the Bible, Jesus gave the last name Boanerges to his disciples James and John. It means “sons of thunder.”) The creature finally reaches its stable on time and stays "docile" (obedient) and "omnipotent" (all-powerful). Throughout the poem, the reader can infer that the unspecified creature is actually a train.

Answer 2

I believe that the type of figurative language that Emily Dickinson used in this poem is personification.
It is a figure of speech where inanimate objects/non-human entities are given human characteristics. So, here, in the poem, when Dickinson writes "I like to see it lap the miles, / And lick the valleys up..." she is giving the train human qualities which it couldn't possibly have.