In There is No Frigate Like a Book Emily Dickinson is considering the power of a book of poetry to transmit us from our immediate surroundings into a world of the imagination. To do it, she compares poetry to various means of transportation: a boat, a team of horses, and a wheeled land vehicle. But she is very careful to choose kinds of transportation and names for them that have romantic connotations. Frigate suggests exploration and adventure; coursers, beauty, spirit, and speed; chariot, speed and the ability to go through the air as well as on land. How much of the meaning of the poem comes from this selection of vehicles and words is apparent if we try to substitute for them, say, steamship, horses, and streetcar.