The Night Mail Poem Summary, Theme, Critical Analysis by W.H. Auden
The Night Mail Summary
“Night Mail” is a beautiful poem by W.H. Auden who gives a description of a train that carries mails, cheque, postal orders, letters. In this poem the poet personifies the Night Mail train and so it is given human attributes by the poet when the train travels through a pastoral set -up. The poet has sketched the path of a coach night mail.
The train is not an ordinary one, it is a night mail that comes at night. When the poet had written this poem, it can be said that, during that time the system of communication was not so highly developed and so most of the people communicated with each other through letters.
We find the train crossing the border overnight with mail, bringing letters, cheques and postal orders for the rich as well as for the poor without any discrimination. We find her (the train) climbing the slope of Beattock (a hill in Dumfriesshire). Though the way is steep, and inspite of all the hurdles she is still on time.
Then she passes cottonfields, moors with boulders, grass fields and she can be seen with her white steam flowing behind her and thus she continues with her journey. She noisily passes through the “silent miles” of grassland where the grasses have bent. This noise makes the birds to peer from the bushes and the sheep dogs know that they cannot alter the course of the train so they sleep down with their heads on their paws. They show no reactions.
She passes through farms where the dwellers are sleeping. Although she makes a loud noise no one wakes up. These people have become habituated to this noise. But a jug only shakes in the vibration of her movement. At dawn she descends into Glasgow. There she approaches towards the dark furnaces which look like huge colossal chessmen. All the people of Scotland eagerly wait for her arrival. They crave for her to arrive with news. There are letters of all sorts and for all sorts of people.
There are receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip from all around the world. She also brings news both ‘circumstantial’ as well as ‘financial’, then letters from family members, letters with doodles in the margins, letters of condolences, letters from all over Europe.
There are also letters written on papers of every colours imaginable. All these letters have tones and styles of their own. There are different types of letters-letters that are catty, friendly, cold, boring, clever, stupid, long, short. Some are also typed, some are printed and some which are mis-spelt.
Thousands of people sleep and dream and have nightmares. They also dream of good things. In Glasgow and Edinburgh, they are all asleep and they dream. When they are awake, they hope that the Night Mail will bring letters for them. Their hearts pound when they hear the knocking sound on the door.
They wait eagerly and expect the postman on their doors for” who can bear to feel himself forgotten?” this line says us how all the people expect to be remembered by their friends, relatives, family members. So everyone waits for some kind of news through different kinds of messages or mails. Everyone wants to be remembered and no one wants to be forgotten.
The Night Mail About the Author W.H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden known as W.H. Auden was a British American poet. Auden was born on February 21, 1907, York, Yorkshire and died on September 1973 in Austria. He had done M.A in English Language and Literature. Throughout his life he published approximately 400 poems and 400 essays and reviews, that were all extremely wide-ranging in topic and form. Auden became versed in all poetic techniques. He served as professor of poetry and Oxford University. He was one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century.
He was a poet of prodigious talent and output, living at a time of immense transition both in the world at large and in the poetic scene. Auden’s first volumes of poems titled, Poems, was printed in 1928 by a school friend. His next volume, also title; Poems, was published in a little over a year later in 1930 by Faber. In 1932, Auden published his large work, The Orators, which speaks on hero worship.
He also wrote a number of plays during his period, some of which included, The Dance of Death, The Dog Beneath and The Ascent of F6. During the early 1940s Auden was working on a large scale poems such as ‘The Sea and the Mirror’, “A Commentary on Shakespeare’s The Tempest” and “The Age of Anxiety”, “A Baroque Eclogue”.
Auden has been admired for his unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in nearly every imaginable verse form. He received many prizes and awards. Some of his awards are Pulitzer Prize for poetry (The Age of Anxiety), Bollingen Prize, National Book Award for Poetry (The Shield Of Achilles).
The Night Mail Theme
The theme of this beautiful poem “Night Mail” is the beautiful journey of the night mail and how it delivers the mails to the people. It delivers letters, cheques, postal orders and other things to everyone without any distinction, discrimination and prejudices. And before it reaches its destination and deliver these, it passes through many barriers, obstacles and hurdles.
The Night Mail Critical Analysis
The charming poem “Night Mail” was commissioned for the documentary film of the same name on which W.H. Auden was working in the year 1930s. He was assisting in production and filming and it was determined that a spoken word poem, set to music, was needed for the end of the film. So he wrote this poem for the occasion. The poem speaks on themes of human relationships and connections. I the poem, the poet shows how the train brings a variety of letters to a variety of people.
It carries letters from every part of the world on every topic up a hill and through the grasses. It is heading up Beattock at a steady climb. The mails are for all, the rich and the poor. We find that the poet has personified the train to a calm, methodical and kind lady. She is always seen to be arriving on time despite the “steady climb.” We see here the warmth and fondness of the train who does not disturb anyone in the countryside when she travels.
Throughout the poem we also find how Auden uses a very steady meter. This was done to mimic the sound that rail cars make as they move along the tracks. When the train passes the birds turn their head to look at her. The “blank faced coaches” part of the locomotive is important and therefore it is all personified to an extent. The poet mentions the farms where people are sleeping and about the sheep-dogs that are aware that the course of the train cannot be altered, and so put down their heads on their paws. The train’s power is juxtaposed against the fact that no one wakes up as she passes.
The second section of the poem deals with the descent of the train in Scotland. Here the poet depicts a bit more industrial landscape with “fields of apparatus,” the furnaces/set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen. Here we see the people of Scotland eagerly waiting for news with anticipation. The letters of “thanks” and banks are joyful notes, there are receipts and bills. These messages carry “applications for situations” to “timid lovers” declarations.
Auden shows the vast array of things sent by post, things that most people have received at one time or another: letters, bills, applications, statements of love, gossips etc. In a sense this is the written version of the entire spectrum of human interaction, starting from the most undistinguished to the most meaningful, everything that is worth communicating across the border.
This shows the bonding between people and how they are knit together by this correspondence, no matter how trivial the mail might seem. The diversity of people and communications in the poem is shown by the kinds of paper,” of every hue.The pink, the violet, the white and the blue.”
In the third section of the poem, one might imagine the excitement of a crowd receiving all the letters. But contrary to this, in reality we find that most of the people are still asleep. In the final section Auden depicts local people asleep in their warm bed, dreaming of local things. Soon they will be awake and eager for the mail.
The Scottish cities where the train was travelling through are mentioned once more in the final stanza of the poem. The people are sleeping, continuing their dreams while the train continues its hard work. In the end of the poem the poet asks after all” who can bear to feel himself forgotten? Thus it is sympathetic and compassionate for individual human beings.
It celebrates human connection which are hopeful, sweet, charming and memorable. Each recipient of the mails is gladdened by the feeling of remembrance, of not been forgotten. This is a message that like the train after facing many hardships reaches its destination so also humans should reach their destination after crossing the hurdles, barriers and obstacles in life.
The Night Mail Title of the Story
The poem “Night Mail” is about a train that carries mails, cheques, letters and postal orders. The poet personifies the night mail train giving it human attributes. The title of the poem “Night Mail” is very significant as the whole poem deals with a night mail which we see is not an ordinary train. He says that the nightmail crossing the border brings the cheque, postal orders, letters for the rich and poor.
The Night Mail travels from one country to another, from place to place crossing the border of England and Scotland. By crossing all boundaries, it hands over the mail to all sorts of people. It is unware of racial discrimination and other prejudices. It carries letters having different messages to various classes of people. It carries formal and informal ‘ letters. Thus we can say that the Mail Train is a source of satisfaction and comfort for the rich and the poor, for the businessman and the common people.
It satisfies the need of all sorts of people. Its journey is very challenging and onerous. Whatever the weather it is, the train has to go and do its job. Sometimes it is seen running up Beattock, a hilly place. It overcomes the sheer ascent and reaches its destination on time. It does not get late though it has to face so many hurdles. Then we see it passing the cotton fields and uncultivated rocky land. It covers long distances. The poet personifies the Night Mail here as a lady scooping and shovelling steam over her shoulders while trying to reach her destination.
The train rushes and it seems that the train is only concerned with conveyance and transportation of correspondence. Roaring and creating a loud sound, it proceeds and passes on from one point to another. It passes the grassy fields, and thus bending the grass. It makes noise that makes the bird look at it from the bushes. They look at it with surprise. The sheepdogs also do not wake up on the arrival of the train because it is no more a subject of curiosity for them.
They know ‘she’ is harmless and it is her habit or routine to go Eke this everyday. So they do not move. The people living along the railway track also have become habituated of the train’s arrival. They know that ‘she’ is always in service of human beings.
She does not cause any change while crossing the fields. Only petty things like a jug in the bedroom shakes and vibrates as ‘she’ passes by the farms and countryside. Next we find that people are all asleep, the Night Mail is on duty. ‘She’ is on her usual daily work.
Inspite of such obstacles and barriers, inspite of such ups and downs, she has reached her destination and the purpose for which she has been travelling that is coming with so many types of correspondence, is fulfilled by her at last.
When she arrives, thousands of people are still asleep, dreaming of monsters or of friendly tea. In all the important cities of Scotland like Edinburgh, Aberdeen, the people are asleep. But when they will wake up, they will be waiting for their letters with the expectation of getting knocks at the door from the postman. As the title suggests it is a train bringing mails at night it can be said an apt title.
From the starting till the end of the poem we see how the Night Mail does its duty and how people wait for it with eager hearts to get news of their loved ones. The Night Mail is the train that brings them the news, though it has to face many problems and troubles before fulfilling its duty. From this point of view we can say that the title given to this poem that is “Night Mail” is a suitable one.
The Night Mail About The Poem
‘Night Mail’ is a beautiful poem written by W.H. Auden which describes the charm of different kinds of letters that peopleof Glasgow a city in Scotland eagerly wait for. The Night Mail carries the letters from London to Glasgow and reaches at dawn in Glasgow. The train is not an ordinary train.The poet emphasizes on the commitment and punctuality of the train.
It faces many barriers but it is always on time. Through the image of the train, the poet teaches is to be punctual, constant and diligent whatever the circumstance come in life. The Night Mail brings various types of postal material for each kind of people. It passes through many obstacles, up and downs. Nobody can alter its course. Night Mail actually resembles life that passes through different courses to reach its destiny.
The Night Mail Main Point Of The Poem
The night mail travels the whole night to bring mails containing letters, postal orders, cheque for different people living in different parts fo the country. But the journey of the night mail is not always the same. It has to face many troubles, many obstacles, many hardships but still it continues to move. It sometimes has to climb upwards and sometimes it crosses the plain. But whatever the situation is.it reaches its destination always on time the poem is the depiction and admiration of Night Mail that brings luxury, ease and comfort.
The Night Mail Linewise Summary
1. This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the comer and the girl next door.
The poet speaks of the Night Mail which travels from one country to another, from place to place, crossing the border of England and Scotland, and brings the cheques and the postal order. It hands over the rnaIs to all sorts of people.
The letters have different messages for different classes of people. It does not know any sort of discrimination. It brings letters for the shop at the corner as well as the girl next door. It is source of satisfaction and comfort for the poor and the rich, for the businessman and the common people.
2. Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time.
Past cotton grass and moorland boulder,
Shovelling white stim over her shoulder,
The journey of the train is very arduous. Sometimes it runs up the hilly place-Beattock, the steep slope and overcomes the ascent and ultimately reaches its destination on time. Then the train goes and passes the cotton fields and the moorlands and boulders. Here the poet compares the train toa lady who is shovelling steam over her shoulders. Although it is difficult to move along a sharp rise, it does not get late. It crosses all the obstacles on its way and moves on and never stops.
3. Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
The train roaring and creating a loud snoring sound proceeds and passes on. She covers the long distances and passes by the grassy fields. After passing the grassy fields, the pressure of the air causes the grasses to bend and bow down.
Through the words “silent miles”, the poet wants to say that the grassy fields are silent. The miles are not silent. The poet has used a transferred epithet here. The noise of the coming train makes the birds look at it from the bushes. They look at it with surprise at her empty coaches.
4. Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.
The sheepdogs are usually very sensitive and they react whenever some intruder tries to get nearer the herd. But when the train arrives they do not wake up as they know that the train is harmless. So they do not move and remain in the same relaxed position with cross-legged. They also know that they will not be able to alter its course. The people who live on the farms are also habituated with this train. They donot feel any disturbance when the train passes by.
They know that the train is always in service of human beings. The train does not cause any change while crossing the fields. It only creates a little vibration of its movement. Small, petty things like a jug in the bedroom only shakes and vibrates in its movement.
5. Dawn freshens, the climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes.
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green lochs
Men long for news.
As the morning nears, the journey of the train almost comes to an end. Now the train descends or comes down towards Glasgow. Here the landscape is just a bit industrial. There the train is heading towards the industrial city with dark furnaces set up like huge chessmen.
All of Scotland living in the narrow valleys and beside the lakes crave for ‘her’ arrival as all the men anticipate news. The train after the whole night journey, after facing so many barriers, is approaching her destination with hopes and expectations in the minds of the people.
6. Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
………………………………………….
………………………………………….
Clever, stupid, short ad long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.
The train which is approaching carries letters of all sorts and for all people; receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip from around the world, news both ‘circumstantial’ and ‘financial’, letters from the family members, letters from all over Europe, letters of condolences, all written on papers of every colours. The letters that she is carrying and bringing have all tones and styles including catty, friendly, cold, boring, clever, stupid,long and short.
Some of them are typed, some are printed while some are misspelled.There are letters written by every kind of writer, with different styles of writing and skill level. The train in other words is acting as a messenger. Her work is to bring messages and conveyance without distinguishing and discriminating rich from poor.
May be many hopes are linked with these messages, hopes of ordinary people, common people, businessmen, rich men, poor men etc. The papers of different colours mentioned in the poem by the poet also depicts the different sorts of people from different cities. There are letters with holiday photos and also letters from the family members like uncles, cousins and aunts.
7. Thousand are still asleep
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
……………………………………….
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
In the last stanza, we expect the people to be awake for we know that the train is coming with the messages. But in this stanza we find thousands of people all asleep in their warm beds, dreaming of local things or monsters. All are sleeping in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They still dream in their sleep but they know that when the will wake up in the morning, they will have letters. With throbbing and pounding hearts all the people will wait eagerly for the knock on their doors.
They expect postman who will come with letters for them in his hand. “Who can bear to feel himself forgotten?” By this line the poet means that everyone who hears the postman’s knock at the door will feel their heart ‘quicken’ with anticipation and expectation. No one is to be forgotten.
The Night Mail Linewise Explanation
1. This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the comer and the girl next door.
the poet in the starting of the poem describes a Night Mail train which is crossing the Border. The border mentioned here is the border of England and Scotland. It is bringing cheques and postal orders, letters for rich as well as the poor people without the discrimination of their social and financial status. It brings letters for the owner of the shop at the comer and also for the next-door girl who is perhaps, waiting for the letters of her lover anxiously.
2. Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against ber, but she’s on time.
Past cotton grass and moorland boulder,
Shovelling white stim over her shoulder,
In these lines, the train is personified as a lady. The poet says that she is running up Beattock a hilly place, along the steep slope. It is quite difficult for her to move along this sharp rise, but still she overcomes it and reaches her destination on time, crossing all the hurdles. The train passes the cotton fields and the moorland with rocks and boulders. She is scooping white steam over her shoulders while racing to reach her destination.
3. Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
Birds turn their beads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
The train passes on the grassy fields with roaring and snorting sound. She covers the long distances of grassy fields and while she passes nearby these fields, the pressure of the air causes the grass to bend and bow. The noise of the train also makes the birds look at it from the bushes. They look at it with keenness and surprise as they can see no human faces and find the carriages impressionless.
4. Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in the bedroom gently shakes.
The sheepdogs do not react on the arrival of the train. They know she is harmless so they remain in the same posture, cross legged. They also know that they cannot alter the course of the train. So they are not disturbed by her approaching. As the train passes the farm, the people living near the farms and railway tracks also do not wake up. They are also not disturbed by the train. Only the thing that vibrates due to her movement is a jug in the bedroom.
5. Dawn freshens, the climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow, she descends
Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In the dark glens, beside the pale-green lochs
Men long for news.
When the morning approaches, the climbing up or the ascent of the train almost comes to an end. So she starts descending down towards Glasgow. The landscape of the Glasgow is industrial with “field of apparatus”, the furnaces which look like huge chessman standing against the dark pain. All the people of Scotland wait for her arrival. All over Scotland, people in the valleys, beside the lakes,wait for the Night Mail to come with their messages.
6. Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from the girl and the boy,
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
Clever, stupid, short ad long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.
In these lines, the poet has given description of the types of messages that the Night Mail train carries. She brings letters of thanks, Ietter from the banks, joyful letters from the girl and the boy, receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip from all over the world, circumstantial and financial news, letters from the family members with holiday photos, letters with doodles in the margin, letters from uncles, aunts, cousins.
Then there are also letters sent from the South of France to Scotland, there are letters of condolences, news from overseas to the Hebrides. The letters have all tones and styles. They are written in papers of different colours ranging from pink, violet to white and blue. There are different tones and styles of the letters like catty, friendly, cold, boring, clever, stupid, long, short, etc. Some letters are typed, some are printed while some have spelling mistakes.
7. Thousand are still asleep
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
…………………………………………….
…………………………………………….
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
In the last stanza, the poet describes thousands of people to be still sleeping. And in their sleep they are dreaming of terrifying monster that is they are having nightmares or may be dreaming of having friendly tea, sitting beside the band at Cranston’s and Crowford’s. All the people are fast asleep at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and are dreaming continuously. But once they will wake up in the morning, they will be longing for letters. They will be waiting for the postman to come with their letters.
The postman will come and knock at their door. The people will be waiting with throbbing and pounding hearts as they are expecting letters. Everyone wants to be remembered so no one wants that she or he will be forgotten. So they will wait with eager hearts for the postman to come and deliver the letters on their hands.
The Night Mail Annotations and Vocabulary
Beattock — a hill in Dumfriesshire in Scotland.
gradient — slope.
moorland — hilly land covered with coarse grass.
slumber — to sleep.
boulder — stones.
glade — a small grass-covered area.
wind — bent-bent due to wind.
stare — gaze.
yelping — a sharp cry.
situations — here means job.
apparatus — tools, machines, structures, etc.
dawn — early morning.
gigantic — huge.
furnaces — a structure in which heat is generated.
chessman — 32 pieces of chess.
hue — colour.
glens — valleys.
snaps — photos.
loch — lakes.
scrawled — scribbled untidily.
well set — well laid.
condolence — consolation; pity; concern.
granite — a form of igneous rocks.
Outpouring — overflowing.
Circumstantial — personal.
timid — coward.
Overseas — across the seas.
