Critical Appraisal of Melodic Trains

The poem shows melodically sounding related series of thoughts that are
developing in mind. They are called Melodic trains for they have the power to
transform the minds of people from some ordinary experience to some
particular.
The poem is a fine example of stream of consciousness technique. The poem
shows the complexity of thoughts as they pass through a sensitive mind of a
poet. A poetic mind has a great capacity for associating this similar and distinct
thought. That is why; the poem has more than one layer of meaning. The title
itself suggests the thought process growing on within the poet’s mind. The
outer journey in her real train is paralleled by a symbolic train of thoughts and
melodies, poetic ideas running through the mind. The first thought or theme
present in the poem is the expression of vanities through appearances, when
the little girl asks the poet what time it is:

“A little girl with scarlet enameled fingernails/

Asks me what time it is—evidently that’s a toy wristwatch”

It is surprising how children satisfy their vanity with toys and fake objects,
which cannot fulfill their need. The toy watch doesn’t tell the time. It is not
only children but adults also do the same and are caught up in vanities and
appearances. The poet discovers that the color of his overcoat resembles the
color of brown mountains; in fact the seams of his coat actually look like the
white paths running down the slopes of the mountains. His thoughts drifting to
his clothes suddenly discover that clothes are like a mask hiding the reality.
Just as one cannot find out the reality under the clothes, we cannot find the
reality of the appearances. The theme of appearance and reality and the
vanities to satisfy one’s self on fake foundations starts right from the
beginning. Basic instinct, at all levels, remains the same all over the world
regardless of race, age, region or nation. But it is very difficult to understand
human psychology only by appearances. The poem is highly personal as
Huybernsz asserts, ‘throws the reader out of the poem’. For him:
‘The premise of this marvelous poem is a journey around New York City.’
The opening metaphor is that of music which sets the poet in meditation and
finds meaning in life. The main purpose in life seems how to live and what to
do? This process of meditation begins when a little girl asks the poet time. The
poet is attracted towards the jagged peaks of the mountains by the seams of
his coat and later caught up in the humdrum of every day life. Rather than a
meaning, the poet finds confusion, crowds and tensions everywhere. A sense
of entrapment encapsulates us, we find surrounded by troubles all around us
and find no way out. The Pisa figures ultimately end this process of mediation
and life seems a perpetual struggle against the odds of society. We keep
oscillating between the complex beginning and peaceful end and sometimes,
peaceful beginning and complex and disturbing end.
“Only the wait in stations is vague … /One beings to suspect there’s no Rule”
Next the train takes turns like a pencil and the poet experiences life to be a
train full of complexity and running to its destination – death. As in an ordinary
journey, the train stops at various stations for brief moments. We also pause at
some stage of life before turning into a new direction. The faces of the
passengers standing outside the platforms melt into the faces of those million
faces, the poet reads different expressions. Some carry on eternal sadness.
Some reflect disillusionment with life and its receptive appearance; some show
anxiety about the future. There are questions in every mind. Will the taxi be
available? Will some one come to welcome me? These and many others
perplex the mind of travelers. As the following lines show: “Sadness of the
faces of children on the platform/ Concern of the grownups for connections”.
These questions asked in ordinary life reflect those questions in the next world.
The poet contemplates some spiritual and metaphysical issues at this point.
The complexities of the world symbolize those of the hereafter and regarding
the future of man in the next world. The is haphazard dimension in life which
disturbs all routines and the same is to be found on the Judgment Day when
this hustle blends into a unique Death which rampages every thing on the
earth. The total existence of human activity is controlled by chance, which
may be termed as Fate. The train journey becomes a semblance to the drama
in real life. As the play has acts and chorus as the character, so is the situation
here when the writer says, ‘“It’s as though a visible chorus called up the
different Stages of the journey”.
Realizing the basic anxieties of the heart, the poet feels complete oneness and
identification with the fellow travelers. Since this journey symbolizes life. It is a
moment of human unity which the poet experiences. He wonders whether
complete communication between the individual and society is possible. They
are like brothers, as poet calls them and require our perfect sympathy. And we
need to convince each other because if there is little panic and disorder, why
are we so tense. The gap that exists between one man and the other in the
modern period can be only bridged if communication barriers, such as
alienation, estrangement and personal entrapment are removed as in, “The
platform or waiting to board the train are my brothers”. The poem is perfectly
a representative of modern American Sensibility. The striking images of tweed
coat and its seams and the girl’s enameled nails are powerful. Melodic Trains is
a fine piece of poetry in which the poet addresses a number of issues, political,
social, and psychological. It is a journey of life and the end of the journey ends
in optimism and happiness on the typical note of ‘Welcome Home!’