Write a critical appreciation of Stephen Spender poem, The Express.

Questionpur
January 25, 2022

Write a critical appreciation of Stephen Spender's poem, The Express.

Introduction:

A Celebration of Technological Progress The Express is among Stephen Spender's greatest and most anthologized poems. The poem was first published in Spender's collection of poems entitled "The Still Centre" (1939). It represents the achievements of his early verse. Throughout the poem, the poet rejoices in "the black statement of pistons" and "the luminous self-possession" of a steam train. The express train, in fact, represents all machines.

The poem thus is a celebration of the mechanical achievements of the poet's age. In other words, here Spender has glorified the industrial and technological progress of the modern age. The case and beauty with which the poet highlights the movements, the look and the music of the train Esc F1 46 Vikas, 2010 (G. U.) is very poetic. Development of Poetic Thought After the "first powerful plain manifesto" in the form of its shrill whistle, the pistons of the express train begin to move Without making any more noise and "gliding like a queen" leaves the station.

The express by Stephen spender questions and answers

Without responding to the salutations of the nearby houses, it passes with "restrained unconcern". At last, it crosses the graveyard. Leaving the town far behind, it enters the open country. Here, "gathering speed", it becomes mysterious. Its complete "self-possession" imparts it the state lines of "ships on the ocean".

Now it begins to sing its mechanical song. At first, it stings "quite low, then loud, and at last with a jazzy madness." The song of the train is a combination of the sounds produced by its whistles, brakes and innumerable bolts. And underneath the train, there sounds the "elate metre" of its wheels. Emitting a lot of steam, it "plunges new eras of wild happiness". The train runs on its parallel lines which are "clean like the steel of guns".

Finally, it enters the hilly area at the time of night. Amid the darkness, there is "only a low streamline brightness of phosphorus on the tossing hills." However, the train keeps on running and looks "like a comet through a flame." It moves engrossed in the magic of its own music. The overpowering sweetness of its music can be equalled neither by any "bird song", nor by "bough breaking with honey buds." 

The Title and Theme The title of the poem, The Express, is quite appropriate. The whole poem is concerned only with the express train. The poet has avoided any superfluous or unnecessary detail about the train. He begins with the departure of the train from the station. Then he tells about the landscapes through which it passes. About one-third of the poem deals with the rhythmical rattling and clanging sound produced by the running train. As we have already noted, the theme of the poem is the celebration of modern man's scientific progress, especially in the field of mechanical engineering. The steam train stands for all machines, and its speed represents the speed of technological advances of the modern age. 

Various Comparisons in the Poem 

To highlight the beautiful aspects of the express train, Slender has made use of various comparisons. These comparisons lend the poem a romantic touch. Consider the following lines, for example: After the first powerful plain manifesto The black statement of pistons, without more fuss But gliding like a queen, she leaves the station.

In the first line of the above extract, the first whistle of the train has been compared to the manifesto of some political party. And the second line, the black smoke emitted by the train's pistons represents the black letters printed on that manifesto. In the third line, we come across a beautiful simile in which the train's smooth movement has been likened to the peaceful movement of some queen.

Just as a queen is followed by a group of maid-servants, in the same way the express is followed by its compartments. Again, a queen does not respond to the salutations of her people. Similarly, the train passes through the town and the countryside "without bowing and with restrained unconcern". The controlled movement of the train has been compared to "the luminous self-possession of ships on the ocean."

This is followed by the comparison of the rattling and clanging sound of the train to the music of jazz. Then the shining metal lines of the train is compared to the steel of guns. Towards the end of the poem, the speedy lighted train has been likened to a comet. All these comparisons are very striking and suggestive. 

Use of Imagery: Pictorial Quality of  Stephen Spender's poem

In The Express the poet has given us a very vivid and concrete description of the steam train. The poem is remarkable for its pictorial quality. The first thing that arrests our attention is that the images from nature have harmoniously been blended with the mechanical images. The given ahead lines are noteworthy for their visual images:
  • Beyond the crest of the world, she reaches nights 
  • Where only, a low streamline brightness 
  • of phosphorus on the tossing hills is white. 
  • Ah, like a comet through flame she moves entranced 
  • Wrapt in her music no bird song, no, nor bough 
  • goog_1735237834Breaking with honey buds, shall ever equal. 

Artistic Qualities: Diction, Rhythm and Metre 

The Express is remarkable not only for its beautiful treatment of the steam train but also for its stylistic excellencies. The poem is written in lucid but metaphorical language. Its diction is urbane and modern. The choice of the words in the poem goes well with its subject matter. The poem abounds in beautiful and striking phrases which enhance its charm.

Among such phrases are: "the black statement of pistons"; "jazzy madness"; "mental landscape"; and, "new eras of wild happiness". The language employed by Spender in the poem is free from all linguistic complexities and intricacies. The Express is a short poem. It has only twenty-seven lines.

The lines of the poem do not rhyme with one another. In this poem, Spender has made use of unrhymed free verse which was very popular among modern poets. And though the words 'cemetery-country-mystery (in lines 7-9) rhyme together, this seems only coincidental. The movement of the poem is slow.

However, the absence of rhyme does not match the rhythmic quality of the poem. The element of music is present in the poem. Even the metre employed in the poem is irregular. The number of syllables differs from line to line. This difference, however, is nominal. Most of the lines have four or five feet.

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