There’s no Frigate like a Book by Emily Dickenson - 715 Words

Dickenson’s â€Å"There’s no Frigate like a Book† takes the soul on an epic journey around the world and magical portals, while escorted by a royal entourage as if by a personal chariot. Considerable ingenuity is found in Dickinson’s metaphorical and figurative literature. She uses metaphors, denotation, connotation, and figurative language in a persuasive way which will be examined line by line. It is truly a book lover’s poem for it is a celebration of the joy and infinite power of reading. Although the poem is of few words, within the mind’s eye it paints thousands and the journey taken is subjective. In examination of the structure of the poem it is evident that there are two stanzas and two quatrains. In the first two lines of the first stanza; a book is compared to a Frigate taking one to lands far away. A Frigate is â€Å"A warship with a mixed armament, generally heavier than a destroyer (in the US Navy) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work† (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). Frigate is one of the four striking metaphors used to convey the sheer pleasure of reading a book. In Dickenson’s time a frigate was a Grande ship; thus, comparing a book to this type of grandeur dictates that a book is of far more value and significance, taking the reader further than the finest sea worthy vessel of the time. Frigate has a connotation and a simile; consequently, the lands have a connotation as well. Additionally the term frigate could imply that power can be