“There is no Frigate like a Book” is an eight-line poem by Emily Dickinson that compares reading to a form of magical transportation. Written around 1873, the poem highlights that reading books and poetry is the most affordable way to travel all across the world. Born in 1830, Emily Dickinson is celebrated as one of America’s greatest poets, and her poems have a lot of inner depth in them.
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –