To Elsie

The poem mentions methods of transportation twice, near the beginning and right at the end. This supports the undercurrent of movement and progression that the poem carries as it explores a changing era. The fourth stanza reads: “devil-may-care men who have taken / to railroading / out of sheer lust of adventure” (Lines 10-12), a reference to the young men who come to work on the railroads. There is, however, a double meaning to the verb “railroading”: it also means to convict someone hastily, or to make a rushed, unconsidered decision. This alludes to the way young people in this poem hurry through life, always chasing the next sensation.

Later, transportation appears as the very last word that closes the poem: “no one to drive the car” (Line 66). This is used as a metaphor for the breakneck speed at which life passes by, as well as a way to juxtapose the image of the railroad. Compared to trains, cars represent a whole new world of possibility and would still have been quite new at the time in which the poem was written. The car as a symbol and landing word for the poem encompasses the feeling of moving towards the future and a parallel loss of control.