On the train the woman standing

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

There is no formal form and meter in the poem, no specific repeated starts or line lengths, and sentence structure is also not parallel in most cases. This style of writing is consistent with other works by Rankine; in this poem, she uses the form of the poem to enhance the emotional impact of its scenes.

The poem’s appearance is at odds with the narrative style: Though it appears that Rankine composed the poem in paragraphs, the speaker is inconsistent in her phrasing and descriptions, often turning phrases on themselves and including questioning remarks. This implied unreliability is important to the meaning of the poem; Rankine’s speaker is confused internally yet attempting to organize her ideas linearly. In US culture, direct communication is considered valuable, which often acts to the detriment of other cultural ways of expressing ideas. By subverting the traditional prosaic form of the poem, Rankine challenges common assumptions of how one should write a poem and how one should communicate ideas.

Stanzas

The 13 stanzas in the poem are each limited in length and tend to be self-contained; that is, each stanza contains a unique image or set of thoughts. Most of the stanzas are punctuated by a clear statement: Stanza 2 ends with “You let her have it” (Line 7); Stanza 6 ends with “not to you” (Line 14); and Stanza 12 ends with “You can’t see.” (Line 37). These examples are consistent with the other stanzas: Each one ends with a clear idea that relates to the remainder of that stanza. Meanwhile, many of the stanzas start with lines using movements or active verbs, supporting the physical descriptions of the train going through the tunnel. Rankine’s construction of each prosaic stanza is useful in the poem’s structure as it both helps contain the heavy emotions for the speaker and assist the reader in moving through a complex interaction.

Point-of-View: Second Person

The use of the second-person perspective in the poem is vital to the experience of the poem. While the speaker remains consistent, they are only addressed in the second person, creating a sense that there is a fourth person in the poem, a kind of omniscient speaker who is simultaneously participating in the events. This structure supports the content of the poem, which addresses how seemingly small physical actions can create a microaggressive and racist atmosphere for Black people using public modes of transportation. Rankine’s use of the second person does not extend to the man or the woman standing in the poem, forcing the reader to identify first and most closely to the speaker situated in the poem. This is an interesting choice, as it places the reader in direct “proximity” (Line 13) to the man and separate from the woman standing. This is likely an effort to support humanizing the experience of Black people living in the United States, who frequently experience the negative impacts of racism as they move through public space.