Treasure Chest Workbook Answers Poem 4 The Night Mail
The Night Mail Poem Comprehension Questions Answers
Question 1.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
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 corner, the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient against her, but she’s on time.
Past cotton grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
snort noisily as she passes
i. Which border is the night nail crossing? What does it bring to the people?
ii. What does the poet mean when he says that the night mail brings letter to poor and rich?
iii. How is the night mail personified?
iv. What type of landscape does the poet mention in the given excerpt?
v. How does the night mail pass through the landscape mentioned in the given excerpt?
Answer:
i. The “border” mentioned in the given excerpt is the border between England and Scotland. The night mail however brings a variety of letters to a variety of people.
ii. The night mail is represented as a perfect communist who doesn’t discriminate between poor and the riches. This is evident when the poet says that the train brings “Letters for the rich, letters for the poor”, which however indicates that the service rendered by the night mail is not restricted to the privileged class only.
iii. Throughout the poem, Auden personifies the night mail as a woman. The train however shares the elegance of a woman while it passes smoothly without disturbing the world around. This is evident when the poet says that while the train passes, “no one wakes”. The smooth manner which the train maintains ail throughout its journey is certainly a feminine quality for which the train is referred to as she.
iv. In the given excerpt, the train is seen crossing the cotton fields and the rocky land. It covers a long distance unmoved of everything around.
v. Auden lends a conventional picture of the night mail crossing the cotton field and the rocky land with a rumbling noise. Moreover, white steam gushes out from her shoulder while the train moves on.
Question 2.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.
In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.
i. Why do birds turn their heads? Wherefrom they turn their heads?
ii. What is meant by blank-faced coaches? Why do birds stare at the blank-faced coaches?
iii. How do sheep dogs react while the night mail passes on?
iv. Why no one wakes when the night mail passes on through the farm?
v. What happens in the bedroom while the night mail passes on?
Answer:
i. Hearing the rumbling sound of the approaching train, birds turn their heads to see the night mail moving on elegantly. They however turn their heads from the bushes around.
ii. Blank faced coaches refers to the black and vacant coaches uninhabited by humans. Birds however continue staring at the blank-faced coaches sine they are surprised finding no human figures inside.
iii. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs while the night mail passes by. Generally sheep-dogs are sensitive animals. They get up even with slightest noise. But, the rumbling sound of the night mail hardly bothers them since they are used to hearing such noise and assured that the train will do no harm to them.
iv. Like the sheep-dogs, human too are used to hearing the snort of the night mail. Hence, they continue enjoying their sleep while the night mail passes by.
v. Though humans and animals continue sleeping, unmoved of the passing of the night mail, the jug in the bed room responds with a mild shake. In other words, the mild tremor caused while the train passes on, shakes the jug inside a bedroom.
Question 3.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Dawn freshens, Her climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descend,
Towards the steam tugs yelping down a glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In dark glens, beside pale-green lochs
Men long for news.
i. Whose climb is referred to in the given excerpt? What happens with the leap of dawn?
ii. Describe in brief the landscape of Glasgow as painted by the poet.
iii. What does the poet mean by all Scotland?
iv. Which areas of Glasgow does the train crosses in the given excerpt?
Answer:
i. The night mail’s difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is referred to in the given excerpt. With the leap of dawn, the night mail descends down towards Glasgow and runs through the plain land.
ii. In the given excerpt, the poet explores the industrial landscape of Glasgow through which the night mail passes in the morning. Auden records that the night mail crosses the rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen.
iii. All Scotland in the given excerpt refers to the people of Scotland who are eagerly waiting for the night mail so that their letters be delivered on time.
iv. The night mail passes through the industrial landscape of Glasgow evident from the pictures like “the fields of apparatus, the furnaces / Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.” In other words, the poet refers to the vast industrial areas of Glasgow where there are furnaces that look like gigantic chessmen.
Question 4.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,
Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,
And applications for situations,
And timid lovers ‘declarations,’
And gossip, gossip from all the nations,
i. What kind of letters does the night mail deliver to the people?
ii. Why are holiday photograph sent to the recipients?
iii. How does the poet describe the tone and style of the letters?
iv. Name the various colours of paper used to write the letters mentioned in the poem?
v. Are there only handwritten letters posted to the recipients? What does the night mail carry other than letters?
Answer:
i. However, the train brings a variety of letters to a variety of people. There are letters expressing thanks or joy, love letters, letters of gossip, letters accompanied with holiday photographs, letter from uncles, cousins, aunts, letter expressing sympathy all stuffed together to be delivered to the people of Scotland.
ii. Holiday photographs are sent to be enlarged and kept as a memoir of beautiful moment of life.
iii. The variety of letters that the night mail carries are written in various tones and styles imaginable. Such tones and styles are mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent to name a few. Moreover, some of the letters are typed while others are printed and even misspelled.
iv. A wide range of letters carried by the night mail are written on papers of various colours. The colours mentioned by the poet are pink, violet, white and blue.
v. Along with the handwritten letters, there are also letters which are typed. Moreover, there are also printed letters among the lot.
Question 5.
Read the following verse paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman’s knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
i. Who are they referred to in the first line of the given excerpt? What are they doing?
ii. What kind of dream they see while in their sleep?
iii. What will they do after they wake up? Why?
iv. How will they react hearing the postman knocking at their door?
Answer:
i. They in the given excerpt refer to the people of Scotland who remain fast asleep even when the train arrives with letters for them in the early morning.
ii. Thousands remain asleep and have terrifying dreams. The poet says that their dreams are as dreaming of monsters. In a way, the dream seems to be something of dreadful nature due to the political unrest in Europe.
iii. After waking up from their sleep the people of Scotland will wait for the letters to be delivered to them in proper time. This is because of the inherent nature of humans to remain connected to the world around. After all none can endure the pain of being forgotten.
iv. After waking up from sleep the people of Scotland will wait for the letters to be delivered to them in proper time. And the moment they will hear the postman knocking at their door, their hearts will pound due to.
The Night Mail Poem Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Question 1.
The night mail is heading towards?
a. London
b. Glasgow
c. Paris
d. Belgium
Answer:
b. Glasgow
Question 2.
The night mail is personified as a ………….
a. child
b. man
c. woman
d. none of the above
Answer:
c. woman
Question 3.
Who turns towards the night mail when it passes by?
a. humans
b. birds
c. sheep-dogs
d. cows
Answer:
c. sheep-dogs
Question 4.
What do humans do when the night-mail passes by?
a. they enjoy watching the train
b. they sleep
c. they wait anxiously for the train to stop
d. they stop the train in the middle
Answer:
b. they sleep
Question 5.
What shakes in the bedroom while the train passes by?
a. mug
b. water bottle
c. lamp
d. jug
Answer:
d. jug
Question 6.
In the morning the train descend down to
a. London
b. Glasgow
c. Birmingham
d. Inverness
Answer:
b. Glasgow
Question 7.
While in their sleep people dream of
a. fairies
b. letters
c. money
d. monsters
Answer:
d. monsters
Question 8.
When do people experience a pounding heart?
a. when the night mail arrives
b. immediately after they wake up
c. the moment when they get letters
d. the moment when the post man knock at their doors
Answer:
d. the moment when the post man knock at their doors
Question 9.
The furnaces set on dark plain look like
a. monsters
b. citadels
c. gigantic chessmen
d. None of the above
Answer:
c. gigantic chessmen
Question 10.
Which among these is not carried by the night mail?
a. letters
b. cheques
c. postal order
d. telegrams
Answer:
d. telegrams
The Night Mail Poem Annotations with Comments
Stanza I:
border: refers to the border of England and Scotland
cheque: an order to a bank to pay a stated sum from the drawer’s account
rich: rich people
poor: poor people
Pulling up: mounting up
Gradient: slope
Beattock: A village in Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland
Moorland: high land with rough grass and bushes.
Boulder: rock
Shovelling: emitting
Snorting: make a sudden explosive sound
Comment:
snort noisily ….of wind-bent grasses: Throughout the poem, the night mail is personified as a woman. Auden often refers the night mail as “she” who “snort noisily” and crosses the “Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.” “All Scotland waits for her”, as she brings news for all. International news was significantly important due to Hitler’s meteoric rise to power.
Stanza II:
turn their heads: birds turn their head when they hear the night mail crossing with rumbling sound
she: refers to the night mail
blank-faced: black and vacant coaches
Sheep-dogs: a dog of a breed suitable for guarding and herding sheep.
Slumber: sleep
Paws across: cross-legged
No one wakes: all are fast asleep when the night mail passes by
Shakes: jug in a bedroom vibrates due to the tremor caused when the night mail passes by.
Comment:
Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course: Sheep-dogs are a part of the sleeping community which remains unmoved while the train passes by. Generally sheep-dogs are sensitive animals. They get up even with slightest noise. But, the rumbling sound of the night mail hardly bothers them like the humans who are used to hearing the noise of the train passing by. Hence, the sheep-dogs continues enjoying their sleep like humans.
Stanza III:
Dawn: early morning
Her climb is done: the train has completed covering the difficult path of climbing up on the mountains.
Descends: come down
Yelping: here it refers to the rumbling sound of the train
Glade: Of space Towards the steam.
of cranes: the rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow
the fields of apparatus: fields of industries
chessmen: solid figure used as a chess piece. Set on ….. gigantic
chessmen: heads toward dark furnaces set up like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland: all the people of Scotland
glens: a narrow valley, especially in Scotland
lochs: a lake
Stanza IV:
Receipted: a written a knowledgment of having received
Stock: store
applications for situations: application for vacant post
gossip: rumours
circumstantial: detail
snaps: pictures
condolence: sympathy
hue: colour
catty: mischievous
heart’s outpouring: heart’s outburst
Stanza V:
Dreaming of terrifying monsters: indication of disturbed sleep due to dreaming something dreadful
Cranston: A locality and parish in Midlothian council area,Scotland.
Aberdeen: a city in North East Scotland, on the North Sea
quickening of the heart: pounding of the heart
The Night Mail Poem Paraphrase
Stanza I:
The night mail is crossing the border and heading towards Scotland. Laden with letters, bank cheques and postal orders meant for all classes of people, the train is committed to reach on time. The path however is difficult since it isn’t easy to move along a sharp rise with hurdles and obstacles on its way. While on move, the night mail crosses the cotton fields and the rocky land. It covers a long distance unmoved of everything around. The poet fancies the train as a woman puffing out noisily and releasing steam from her shoulder while passing by the miles of verdant lands.
Stanza II:
Birds from the bushes turn towards the approaching train while they hear the rumbling sound. The dark and vacant coaches surprise them as they see no human figures. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs as they are used to hearing the noise of the train passing by. Humans too are unmoved. Like the sheep-dogs, they too enjoy their sleep while the train passes on with mild tremor that shakes a jug inside a bedroom.
Stanza III:
With the show of dawn, the train descends down towards Glasgow. The difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is over. The train now runs through the plain land with rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen. People of Scotland eagerly wait for the train as they long for news.
Stanza IV:
Various kinds of letters are received by the people of Scotland. It may be letters expressing thanks or joy or may be official letters from banks. There are applications for vacant post, love letters, letters of gossip, letters accompanied with holiday photographs, meant to be enlarged, letter from uncles, cousins, aunts, letter expressing sympathy written on papers of various colours like pink, violet, white and blue. The letters however have all tones and styles imaginable mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent. Some of them are typed while others are printed and even misspelled.
Stanza V:
Thousands remain asleep and have terrifying dreams. They are from Glasgow and Edinburgh. They continue with their dreams but expect that they will, ceive letters soon as they are awake. Their hearts will pound, hearing the postman knocking at their door. After all who can endure the pain of being forgotten?
The Night Mail Poem Summary by W.H. Auden
The night mail is crossing the border and heading towards Scotland. Laden with letters, bank cheques and postal orders meant for all classes of people, the train is committed to reach on time. The path however is difficult since it isn’t easy to move along a sharp rise with hurdles and obstacles on its way. While on move, the night mail crosses the cotton fields and the rocky land.
The poet fancies as if the night mail is a woman, puffing out noisily and releasing steam from her shoulder while passing by the miles of verdant lands. Birds from the bushes turn towards her while they hear the rumbling sound. The dark and vacant coaches surprise them as they see no human figures there. Sheep-dogs, continues sleeping comfortably with crossed-legs as they are used to hearing her noisy “snort”. Moreover, humans too remain unmoved. While they enjoy their sleep, the train passes on with mild tremor that shakes a jug inside a bedroom.
With the show of dawn, the train descends down towards Glasgow. The difficult path of moving along a sharp rise is over. The train now runs through the plain land with rows of cranes along the harbour of Glasgow. The next moment, it travels through the vast industrial areas where the furnaces look like gigantic chessmen. People of Scotland eagerly wait for the train as they crave for news.
However, the train brings a, variety of letters to a variety of people. There are “letters of thanks”, “letters from banks”; Letters of joy”; financial,” letters of gossip, love letters, letters from uncles, cousins, aunts and letters of condolence to name a few. These letters are written on papers of various colours like pink, violet, white and blue.
The letters however have all tones and styles imaginable mischievous, tedious, emotional, clever and unintelligent. Some of them are typed while others are printed and even misspelled. People who aren’t awake will receive letters soon as they are awake. Their hearts will pound, hearing the postman knocking at their door. After all who can endure the pain of being forgotten?
The Night Mail Poem Introduction
Auden’s Night Mail was written in 1936 to accompany the documentary film of the same title. The film was about a mail train flying from London to Scotland. Auden’s poem was read towards the end of the film, set to music by Benjamin Britten. The poem explores the commitment of a mail train to deliver an unimaginable variety of letters to the people of Scotland. Night Mail however remains one of Auden’s most popular poems all for its simple style and theme.