Rober Louis Stevenson was a Scottish Novelist and a Travel Writer. His most noted works are - 'Treasure Island', 'Kidnapped', 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide' and 'A Child's Dream'.
He was born on 13th November 1850 at Edinburgh in United Kingdom. He was a son of a lighthouse builder and a harbour engineer. He suffered from breathing problem in his childhood and this persistent health problem made him thin. By the time he entered Edinburgh University at the age of sixteen to study Engineering, he fell in love with the spell of language and began to write.
He died on 3rd December, 1894 in Samoa.
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 there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road,
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
Why does the speaker say the horses and cattle are 'charging along'? Are they really running?
Fly as thick as driving rain.
Why is the tramp gazing at the train?
Write three sentences about what the speaker sees from the train - one about things , one about animals and one about people.
'Each a glimpse and gone for ever'. What does the speaker mean by this?
Do you think the speaker enjoys travelling by train? What do you think he enjoys most about the journey?