Summary of Night Mail Poem by W.H Auden

Summary of Night Mail Poem

The poet describes the journey of a railway coach that travels the whole night to convey the mail. It brings letters, postal orders and cheques for the rich and the poor, male and female.

Sometimes its way is steep upward and sometimes it travels through plain fields. Whatever the railway track is steep or descent it reaches on time.

Producing clouds of smoke and thundering noise, it passes by different types of landscape, grassland, cotton fields and plains.

The birds stare at its blank carriages from their nests when it passes by them but the sheep dogs continue their sleep without bothering about it.

When it passes by a farmhouse, no one wakes because of its noise only the utensils shake.

Night Mail is a simple poem written by W. H. Auden. In this poem, the poet describes the journey of a coach that travels the whole night to bring mail containing letters, postal orders and cheques for people living in different parts of the country.

The journey is not always the same. Sometimes the “Night Mail” coach has to climb upwards and sometimes it crosses the plains but it always reaches its destination on time. During the journey the coach passes through grasslands, cotton fields, moorland, etc.

The poet mentions the attitude of the birds as it approaches, they become active to peep at it through bushes. The sheepdogs are not at disturbed by the noise of the train as they are lost in their slumber (deep sleep). The poet minutely mentions all the details that when the night mail passes through the farm the people are not disturbed. They continue to sleep. Only a jug placed in a bedroom shakes gently with the vibration of the passing train.

Note: The problem of huge areas with uneven population density. Although the population is scattered throughout the country, the majority of high-level educational institutions and highly qualified teachers are concentrated in the central region. A trip to another city is often impossible because of high costs. There is still a need to improve the education of people working in different regions, usually having families for whom moving to another city is fraught with significant problems.  Secondly, this is a problem of time. Today most modern specialists have time for the minutes. And yet, without new knowledge, without learning throughout life, no one can do. Even evening and Sunday education does not solve this problem. Thirdly, the problem of money. This is more about higher education and preparation for it. Competition for free places is high, and paid training is far from being affordable for everyone.