On the train the woman standing

In its general structure, the poem appears to be a narrative poem with a linear plot; at moments, though, the poem defies this categorization and becomes almost allegorical as the speaker transcends the poem’s story into a broader philosophical discussion. The semi-tangible nature of the poem’s plot points is matched by the narrative tone of the poem: The speaker alternates between vivid, concrete description and vague, almost theoretical musings that seem located beyond one individual’s experience. Therefore, the poem is both an allegory and an individual story of the impact of race and racism on day-to-day life. This is in keeping with the larger tone and content of the book the poem is published in, Rankine’s Citizen; readers interested in analyzing this aspect of the poem might want to read other pieces from the text to support their thinking.

The poem’s point-of-view and tone create both the speaker’s identity and direct engagement to the reader. The poem is written in the second person, consistently addressing “you” (Line 1), yet the person being addressed could also be interpreted as the speaker. This structure draws the reader in and constructs the location of each subject of the poem: the man, the woman who won’t sit, and the “you” who is being addressed. This is explored in the final line, where Rankine writes, “And as if from inside your own head you agree” (Line 39). The speaker’s omniscience, in this case, extends into the mind of the person who is being addressed, implying that the speaker and “you” might be the same.

The setting of the poem and primary themes are linked. Rankine explores racism through an interaction in a public place, which Rankine then generalizes as applicable to a range of scenarios. The location of the poem initially seems clear—a train on the way to “Union Station” (Line 4). The setting is shifted, later, as the speaker places herself “next to the man […] anywhere he could be forsaken” (Line 12). The possibility that the man is “forsaken” (Line 12) is the crux of the poem; it is important that it could happen “anywhere” (Line 12) because it centers the repeated, wide-ranging nature of the dynamic the man experiences.

In the context of Citizen, the larger book this poem is published in, it is understood that the speaker is a Black woman sitting next to a Black man on a train filled with predominantly white passengers. The understanding between the speaker and the man results from their shared awareness about how Black people are treated in US society, particularly in public spaces where white people can demonstrate their “fear” (Line 6) through their physical actions. By placing the interaction of the poem in transit, Rankine moves her reader through the tension and climax of the piece while making it clear that the described experiences could happen “across the aisle tracks room harbor world” (Line 34).

The audience of [“On the train the woman standing”] is not explicitly named; the nature of the poem, however, suggests that the intent is for the reader to explore their own psychological interior and consider their behavior in public spaces. For white readers, the poem demands a level of compassion and empathy that is not exhibited by “the woman standing” (Line 1). Rankine challenges white adults to consider how they might behave in any public space around the invisible space their fear places around Black men. Non-white readers might find a different message in the poem, as the speaker considers non-white people her “family” (Line 39) in the gentle conclusion of the poem. These two readings, rather than opposing one another, exist in tension with each other just as the characters of the poem move in the poem’s imagined space in reaction to one another’s bodies.

The physical poetic structure of the poem is also a key aspect of how Rankine communicates her ideas via the narrative. Because the poem is almost written in prose, it appears linear. However, the language in the poem is frequently circular, lacking some punctuation, or jarringly separate from other images. For example, in Stanza 10, the speaker says, “You sit to repair whom who? You erase that thought” (Lines 28-29). The confusing structure of “whom who” and the speaker’s own “eras[ing]” implies a kind of narrative unreliability and philosophical tone. This style of poetry is also unique from other forms of poems that critique social circumstances; this idea is explored further in the Literary Context and the Literary Devices sections of this guide.