Wynstan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) was a versatile personality who brought significant changes with socialist fervour in the field of arts and made innovative changes in style, content and tone. He participated actively in the fields of politics, morals, love and religion. As an important member of the “Oxford group” he rejected the traditional poetic forms of Victorian writers and was influenced by literary modern writers like T.S.Eliot. All his works are noted for their humanitarian content, democratic spirit and technical innovation in literary forms.
This poem was written in 1936 to accompany the documentary film of the
same name. The film is concerned with a London, Midland and Scottish Railway
(LMS) mail train travelling from London to Scotland. It was produced by the
GPO to publicize the work of the British
general Post Office. This film was directed by Harry Watt and Basil Wright and
was narrated by John Grierson and Stuart Legg. Some of the lines of the poem
were cut and changed to fit the film. The basic intent of the film was to
reveal how the mail was distributed all over cities and villages by the train.
The rhythm of the film matches the train’s movement and a sense of dreamy
loneliness pervades much of it. Auden’s poem was read in the closing few
minutes of the documentary film. This poem was set to music by Auden’s friend,
Benjamin Bretten.
In this poem, the train is personified as a
person who travels crossing many hurdles and reaches her destination on time.
She passes through grasslands, cotton fields, rocky terrain and industrial
townships. The night mail carries mail across the country by night. Here the
“blank-faced coaches” refers to compartments carrying no passengers. She
shovels white steam over her shoulder as she moves forward.
In spite of her fast rhythmic movement, the night mail did not disturb the sleeping people who were dreaming about news about war and letters from their dear people. The poet shows the train as a socialist symbol transcending the barriers of social status and rank. The train crosses the borders overnight bringing letters, cheques, and orders for both the rich and the poor. Though the way is steep she moves with steady speed and arrives at the destination on time. She noisily passes through the silent miles of grasslands. Birds peer at her and sheep dogs cannot alter her course. The dwellers sleep on undisturbed by the passing train while the jug gently shakes due to vibrations caused by the train.
In the dawn she descends into Glasgow. There she heads towards dark furnaces set up like “gigantic chessmen”. All of Scotland eagerly crave for her arrival for men want news and letters from their near and dear. She carries many letters of different sorts and for all people such as receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip from around the world and news both “circumstantial” and “financial”. She also brings personal letters from family members, letters with doodles in the margins, letters from all over Europe, letters of condolences all written on papers of every color imaginable. The letters have all tones and styles such as chatty, friendly, cold, boring, clever, stupid, long and short. Some are typed, some are printed and some are misspelled. Thousands still sleep dreaming night mares. They are asleep in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They dream on but they hope that when they wake up, they will have letters. The line “And none will hear the postman’s knock/Without a quickening of the heart’) refers to their intense desire to know that they are remembered by someone else as the mail comes. Their hearts will pound when they hear the knock of the postman on their doors since “Who can bear to feel himself to be forgotten?”
This is a twelve- stanza poem that is divided into stanzas of varying length. The first part of the poem is made of eight four-beat rhymed couplets to echo the rhythm of the running train. The second section of the poem describes the train’s descent into Scotland. The landscape has a touch of industrial township with dark furnaces. Stanza nine has eight lines, stanza ten has nineteen lines, stanza eleven has three lines and stanza twelve ends with seven lines. This poem is written as a conclusion to a film about the delivery of the mail. The meter of the poem resembles that of a moving train down the tracks. It is very steady, builds up speed and at the end slows down. The second section has eight lines with irregular meter. Scotland was eager to hear about war news as Hitler was becoming increasingly aggressive. In the third section the excitement of the crowd receiving all the letters is described though most of them were asleep when the train was passing by. Auden realistically shows the vast array of things sent by post. People are knit together by this correspondence, no matter how trivial the mail might seem. The diversity of people and communications is mirrored by the kinds of paper” of every hue/the pink, the violet, the white and the blue."
In the final section Auden depicts local
people asleep in their warm beds dreaming of local things and monsters. Soon
they will be awake and eager to know about the mail they would get. The end of
the poem asks “after all, who can bear to feel himself forgotten?” This poem
celebrates human connections and sweet, memorable relationships. The poet viewed
the night mail as a socialist symbol which serves all transcending the barriers
of race, rank and status. The train is personified as a calm, methodical and
kind being who is always on tome despite “the steady climb” as she barely
disturbs the countryside.
The poet also used many figures of speech to enhance the effect of the moving train in keeping with her movement. The repetition of word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines in succession (Anaphora) is seen in this poem to create emphasis. (“Letters for the rich, letters for the poor”) and (“Letters of thanks, letters from the banks / “Letters of joy from the girl and the boy”). A list of phrases, items or actions may be mentioned. The repetition of initial consonant at the beginning of words (Alliteration) is seen words like “birds, bushes, blank-faced”. The use of sibilance (alliteration of soft vowels such as “s” and “sh” to create a prolonged hissing and rushing sound. (“Shovelling white steam over her shoulders/Snorting noisily as she passes”). The use of enjambment (run-on lines) is used to show the smooth movement of the train. (“Down towards Glasgow she descends/Towards the steam tugs yelping down the glades of cranes). The use of repetition for giving emphasis is seen (“Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in/Lines with faces scrawled in the margin/Letters from the uncles, cousins, and aunts/ “Letters to Scotland from the south of France/” Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands”).
The whole poem is the personification of the train as a brave lady moving forward with steady movement and perseverance facing many hurdles with a sense of determination. In the sentence “she snorts noisily as she passes by the wild bent grass” the train is personified as an animal. This poem is a fitting conclusion to the documentary film which highlights the services provided by the Railway and the Postal departments.
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(Dedicated with humble regards to Sri (Late) Y.N.Sastri, the Saviour of Railway Pensioners and who did yeoman service for protecting the rights of pensioners at national level.). He worked as Chief Controller in Secunderabad and after retirement in the capacity of President for All India Retd. Railwaymen Federation, he rendered invaluable and commendable service for pensioners for nearly thirty years. He was a born leader. an orator, a writer and an actor. To quote, he was " a multi-faceted personality with a zeal for pensioners' welfare, social, cultural and sports activities; above all a trade union leader and a freedom fighter with leadership talent. A leader of conviction, devotion to duty and determination combined with a high degree of knowledge and vast experience."
I humbly dedicate this essay to him since like the "Night Mail" in Auden's poem, he stands for dynamic nature, courage to overcome difficulties and selfless service with timely action and straightforward nature without any inhibitions.
9th October, 2021 Somaseshu Gutala
