A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)
by
Robert Louis Stevenson
From a Railway Carriage
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And here is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart runaway in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill, and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!
Robert Louis Stevenson's
From a Railway Carriage is an example of how
dactylic meter reinforces the suggestion of motion, and very much so, enhances the argument of the poem.
This classic read aloud poem is particularly appropriate for young children to hear with its strong rhythm makes it fun and easy to read. Children learn their earliest poetry by ear and not by eye and it sticks with them longer, they enjoy it more, and they may not even notice they are learning something.
Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/rls02.html#1
CST Approved