The Night Mail Poem Questions and Answers & MCQs
Read the given extracts below and the following questions:
Question 1.
“Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb;
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time.
a. Where is the above line take from and who is the poet?
b. Who is ‘she’ referred to in the above line?
c. Explain the above lines.
d. Before these lines, what is ‘she’ crossing and what is she carrying?
Answer:
a. The above line is taken from the poem” Night Mail.” The poem is written by W.H. Auden.
b. ‘She’ in the above line is referred to the Night Mail train, It has been personified as a lady by the poet.
c. The poet talks about the Night Mail train that is crossing the border with the letters, cheques and the postal orders and then is running up the slope of Beattock. This steep slope is trying to retard or hinder her speed but she overcomes this hurdle and reaches her destination on time.
d. The Night Mail train is crossing the border of England and Scotland and is carrying cheques, postal orders, letters for the rich and the poor. She is also carrying letters for the shopkeeper of the shop at the corner and for the girl who stays next door.
Question 2.
Snorting noisily as she passes Silent miles of wind-bent grass.
a. What is “snorting noisily” referred to?
b. Before this where did she pass and how?
c. What do the birds do when she passes and why?
d. What do the sheepdogs do and why? What is the only thing that shakes when she passes?
Answers:
a. As the train passes the grass fields she makes roaring sound.She covers a long distance of grassy fields and the presence of the air causes the grass to bend and bow.
b. Before this, she passed grass lands, cotton fields and moorland with rocks and stones and as she passes she overflows the white steam behind her.
c. When the Night Mail passes, the birds look at it through the bushes.They turn their heads to look at her. They stare at her empty coaches (blank-faced. or the coaches without passengers. But they don’t react as they know that she is harmless.
d. The sheepdogs also do not react when they hear the noise of the approaching Night Mail. They just keep sleeping with paws across. They know that they cannot change the course of her so they don’t bother and lie down again. They are also habituated with her movement like this daily and they know that she is harmless. So inspite of being sensitive animals, they do nothing. Ajug in the bedroom is the only thing that shakes when she passes.
Question 3.
Men long for news
a. What are these men?
b. Why do they long for news?
c. What news are they waiting for?
d. How does the poet describe the descent of the train?
Answers:
a. These men are the citizens of Scotland and London who are waiting for their letters and other messages and documents.
b. They long for news because they are waiting for the arrival of some documents or message which are very important and significant for them.
c. Some are waiting for their examination results, some for invitation, bank details, money, postal orders and many other things which are very important for them to receive.
d. With the approaching of the morning, the Night Mail also climbs down towards Glasgow. Here the poet has given a description of an industrial landscape with fields of apparatus, the furnaces standing against the dark plain like huge chessmen. And all the people of Scotland, in the valleys and beside the lake long for the news to come.
Question 4.
Thousands are still asleep
a. Who are still asleep and when?
b. What are they dreaming?
c. What do they wait with eager heart?
d. What are the different types of letters that the Night Mail bring?
Answers:
a. Thousands of people are asleep When the train is approaching towards Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
b. The people are dreaming of terrifying monsters (nightmares. or dreaming of friendly tea beside the band in Cranston’s and Crawford’s.
c. They are waiting eagerly for the news to come. They wait for the train and expect that the postman will come and knock at the door and will deliver them the letters and messages for which the people are waiting. The letter relieve them of their loneliness as they feel wanted and realise that they are cared. loving, cold, official, clever, stupid. long, short, etc. There are typed, printed letters and also letters which are misspelled.
Question 5.
The gradients is against her, but she is on time.
a. Who is being talked about in the above line?
b. What is gradient and why is it against her?
c. What is the significance of ‘but’ here?
d. How does ‘she’ help the people?
Answers:
a. The Night Mail is being talked about in the above line.
b. The ‘gradient’ is the mountain slope here.It is ‘against her’ because she has to climb up to the steep slope.
c. The ‘but’ here signifies that though it is tough going uphills; the train is on time despite the slopy terrain. This signifies that nothing could retard or hinder the movement of the train though she had to pass so many hurdles before reaching her destination. This same nature should also be shown by us.
d. The Night Mail connects people through the letters and messages it brings. The people feel connected on receiving letters. The letters relieve them of their loneliness as they feel wanted and realise their importance in life. They realise that they are being cared for by their friends, relatives, families, beloveds, etc.
The Night Mail Poem MCQs
Question 1.
The Night Mail is ……………..
a. an express train
b. a passenger train
c. a train that carries mail
d. a train that carries goods
Answer:
c. a train that carries mail
Question 2.
On the arrival of the Night Mail the birds are ………..
a. are frightened
b. have flown away
c. are pleased
d. are unconcerned
Answer:
d. are unconcerned
Question 3.
Why do the sheepdogs continue to sleep on the arrival of the train? Because they can’t ………..
a. attack it
b. change her course
c. bite it
d. get into it
Answer:
b. change her course
Question 4.
The Night Mail comes from ………..
a. mountains
b. moorland boulders
c. across the border
d. wind-bent grasses
Answer:
c. across the border
Question 5.
The Night Mail brings cheques and ………..
a. money orders
b. pay orders
c. count orders
d. postal orders
Answer:
d. postal orders
Question 6.
The Night Mail brings letters for the ………..at the corner.
a. house
b. farm
c. shop
d. slum
Answer:
c. shop
Question 7.
The is against her but she is on time.
a. moorland boulder
b. grassland
c. sceptre
d. gradient
Answer:
d. gradient
Question 8.
Birds turn their heads as the Night Mail ………..
a. snorts
b. approaches
c. passes
d. turns
Answer:
b. approaches
Question 9.
What does gently shake in the bedroom when the Night Mail passes?
a. a jug
b. a table
c. a glass
d. a cuo
Answer:
a. a jug
Question 10.
The train passes silent miles of ………..
a. moorland
b. wind-bent grasses
c. cotton grass
d. farmlands
Answer:
b. wind-bent grasses
Question 11.
How do the birds react when the train comes?
a. they began to chirp
b. they fly away
c. they fall asleep
d. they turn their heads to see it
Answer:
d. they turn their heads to see it
Question 12.
The train descends or climbs down __________ when dawn freshens.
a. Glasgow
b. Scotland
c. Edinburgh
d. Hebrides
Answer:
a. Glasgow
Question 13.
The four colours of the letter mentioned by the poet in the poem are ………….
a. yellow, pink, white and blue
b. red, blue, pink and yellow
c. pink, violet, white and blue
d. red, violet, blue and white
Answer:
c. pink, violet, white and blue
Question 14.
Pulling up Battock, a steady climb
a. Going away from the border of the Beattock fast
b. Going towards the border of the Beattock slowly
c. Going towards the border of the Beattock fast
d. Going away from the border of Beattock slowly
Answer:
b. Going towards the border of the Beattock slowly
Question 15.
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.
a. small roads where winds bend grasses
b. small grass bent by winds
c. long grass bent by winds
d. long roads where the winds bend the grass
Answer:
d. long roads where the winds bend the grass
Question 16.
Asleep is granite
a. Aberdeen
b. Edinburgh
c. London
d. Scotland
Answer:
a. Aberdeen
Question 17.
Who wakes up when the train passes the farm?
a. everybody
b. a baby
c. no-one
d. farmers
Answer:
c. no-one
Question 18.
The Night Mail shovels over her shoulder
a. black smoke
b. white steam
c. hot vapours
d. dark steam
Answer:
b. white steam
Question 19.
By what does the train pass?
a. cotton grass
b. cotton fields
c. cotton mills
d. cotton balls
Answer:
a. cotton grass
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