The Speaker
The speaker in "Train Journey" is on an unspecified journey. In a dreamlike state, she observes and responds to the passing landscape, expressing concern for its wellbeing. She expresses this concern by enjoining the trees to claim their strength and revitalize life within themselves. By addressing the land and the trees, the speaker participates in their poetic formation. This represents Wright's relationship to her country of origin: the "country that built [her] heart."
The Country
In the poem, the speaker addresses her country in a personal and intimate way. The land is personified as a woman with "delicate dry breasts," which represents the way that drought has deprived the land of water and nutrients. This metaphor compares the land to a mother who is unable to feed her children. Later in the poem, the speaker urges the trees to use their roots to break the "virgin rock," which again figures the land as the body of a woman. The tone of the poem changes when the speaker communes with the trees, expressing a hope for the occurrence of life in the harsh and dry landscape.
The Trees
The speaker identifies two particular trees in the landscape: box-tree and ironbark. Both of these species are native to Australia, and thus designed to withstand the intense heat and drought. Though the speaker twice describes these trees as small and also describes the movement of their branches as a "slender dance," the speaker ultimately focuses on their resilience and beauty.
