Welcome to “The Night Mail Workbook Answers: ICSE Treasure Chest (Evergreen),” where we delve into the rhythmic and captivating poem “The Night Mail,” featured in the ICSE English Literature Treasure Chest by Evergreen Publications. This post provides meticulously crafted answers to multiple-choice and contextual questions, enriching your understanding of this classic piece.
Through thorough analysis, we uncover the essence of the poem, which vividly portrays the journey of the night mail train as it travels through the countryside, delivering letters and connecting lives. Each question serves as a key to exploring the poem’s structure, themes, and the unique rhythm that mirrors the train’s steady progress. Contextual inquiries broaden our perspective, encouraging critical engagement with the themes of communication, connection, and the relentless march of time.
By engaging with these workbook solutions, readers sharpen their analytical skills and develop a deeper appreciation for the poem’s literary craftsmanship and its reflection on human relationships and societal functions. Whether you’re a student studying for the ICSE English Literature exams or an avid reader exploring timeless poetry, “ICSE Treasure Chest: The Night Mail Workbook Answers” offers valuable insights and guidance. Join us on this literary journey as we illuminate the path to understanding, one workbook solution at a time.
Table of Contents
Poem In Details :
The speaker begins by describing the journey of the Night Mail crossing the border. bringing cheques, postal orders, and letters for the people. It moves up Beattock at a steady climb. It makes good progress and is on time. It moves through various regions, throwing white steam back (it is run by steam engine).
The train continues its journey and startles the birds which look at it in amazement. It pulls along it ‘blank-faced coaches’. Its coaches are also personified.
The train passes through farm houses where people are sleeping. The night is over; it is now dawn and the train’s climb up the hill is over. The train is headed towards Glasgow, Scotland, which has ‘fields of apparatus’ and giant furnaces of industries. Though the train has entered the noisy industrial area, everything is quiet at dawn. The people of Scotland are waiting for the train, anxious to get some news.
In a long stanza, the poet refers to various kinds of letters and other things the train carries: receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip from the world, news, letters of different types written on different types of paper. The letters have different styles and tones; friendly, boring, clever, stupid, long, short, typed, printed, misspelled.
Thousands still sleep and dream and have nightmares. They are asleep in Glassgow, in Edinburgh. They are asleep but they have hope that when they awake they will have letters. Their hearts will pound when the postman arrives, for, as the poet asks, “Who can bear to feel himself forgotten ?”
Line Wise Explanation :
Lines 1-10 (This is Night Mail… wind-bent grasses)
The Night Mail, personified as a calm, conscientious and kind being, is crossing the border to reach Scotland. She is to climb up the hill, so her movement is slow. She is bringing for the people cheques, postal orders and letters.
She is heading up Beattock at a steady climb. She continues to move and is not late. She passes through fertile lands and moors, pushing white steam back, snorting noisily as the uphill movement is hard.
Through this segment, Auden has used a steady meter to mimic the sound that rail cars make as they move along the tracks. The reference to the letters for the rich and the poor underlines the importance of the train and the system of mail delivery during that time.
Lines 11-16 (Birds turn… gently shakes)
In these couplets, the train’s movement is depicted. Birds turn to look at her. She pulls behind her ‘blank-faced coaches’ (personified as expressionless, timid followers). She is determined to move on. The poet mentions farms where people are asleep and sheep-dogs run alongside the train trying to “turn her course” without any success. Though a jug in a bedroom shakes, the inmates continue to sleep as if they were well used to hearing her pass. The train is thus presented as a necessary part of the environment.
Lines 17-24 (Dawn freshens … for news)
Time has passed from when this stanza begin. The night is over. It is dawn now. The train’s uphill movement is over. She is now headed towards Glasgow, which is a less peaceful area. There are giant machines and furnaces, it being an industrial area. “Furnaces/set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen’ is a simile to refer to industrial planning, building and working. The train is being waited for anxiously by Scots longing for news.
Lines 25-44 (Letters of thanks… spelt all wrong)
In this part of the poem there are many examples of anaphora (the repetition of the same word at the beginning of poetic lines): “Letters”, “And” and “The”. Each of these words creates a pattern that imitates the movement of the train, and the return of the train.
We are told what types of letters and other things are carried by the Night Mail: letters, receipts, invitations, applications, declarations of love, gossip, news, etc. Letters of all types written on papers of all colours imaginable are alluded to. These letters have all kinds of tones and styles: friendly, cold, boring, stupid, long, short, etc.
Lines 45-54 (Thousands… himself forgotten ?)
Thousands of people are still sleeping and have dreams ranging from tea to terrifying monsters, while the train is working hard. They will soon awake and long for letters. And no one will hear the knock of the postman without a pounding of the heart. In a rhetorical question, the poet asks as to ‘who can bear to feel himself forgotten’. Here the poet underlines the human need to be connected, loved and remembered by someone in the world. No one can live in isolation.
Workbook MCQs :
Read the following questions and select the correct option:
1. What special human quality does “The Night Mail’ celebrate?
(a) The wait for the mail
(b) The longing to get some letter
(c) The longing to be connected and remembered by someone
(d) The longing to get some news
Answer :- (c) The longing to be connected and remembered by someone
2. Select the option that shows the correct relationship between statement (1) and statement (2).
1. The train is never late.
2. The train continues to move on steadily through various stations.
(a) 1 is the cause for 2.
(b) 1 is an example of 2.
(c) 1 is independent of 2.
(d) 1 is a contradiction of 2.
Answer :- (b) 1 is an example of 2.
3. Which of these statements is NOT true?
(a) The train starts its journey climbing hills slowly.
(b) The train carries letters and many other things for different people.
(c) The train is heading for London
(d) The people wait for the mail anxiously in the morning.
Answer :- (c) The train is heading for London
4. Which of the following lines contains the same literary device as the one in “The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time’.
(a) He will watch you without winking.
(b) Frail as a dragon-fly’ wing.
(c) I chatter, chatter, as I flow / To join the brimming river.
(d) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Answer :- (c) I chatter, chatter, as I flow / To join the brimming river.
5. In the farm she passes no one wakes’.
Which of the following words best describes the farm-house people?
(a) indifferent
(b) habitual
(c) cruel
(d) insensitive
Answer :- (b) habitual
6. What does the poem celebrate ?
(a) the mail train
(b) human connections
(c) the railway system
(d) none of the above
Answer :- (b) human connections
7. Where was the mail train heading?
(a) Paris
(b) London
(c) Glasgow
(d) Crawford
Answer :- (c) Glasgow
8. ‘Snorting noisily as she passes’. Which figure of speech is used here?
(a) personification
(b) alliteration
(c) metaphor
(d) sarcasm
Answer :- (a) personification
9. Why does-no one wake up from their sleep as the train passes ?
(a) They are intoxicated.
(b) They sleep in sound-proof rooms.
(c) The train creates no noise.
(d) They have become habituated to the train’s passing and ignore it.
Answer :- (d) They have become habituated to the train’s passing and ignore it.
10. Which of these is NOT carried by the train?
(a) letters
(b) news
(c) cheques
(d) furnaces
Answer :- (d) furnaces
11. ‘For who can bear to feel himself forgotten? Which literary device is used here?
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) rhetorical question
(d) irony
Answer :- (c) rhetorical question
12. Which regions does the train pass through?
(a) The seabeach
(b) hills and plains
(c) mountains
(d) war zones
Answer :- (b) hills and plains
13. Select the correct option that displays the characteristics of the personified train correctly.
(a) kind
(b) aggressive
(c) methodical
(d) steady
Answer :- (b) aggressive
14. Which of these is repeated numerous times in the poem?
(a) letters
(b) cheques
(c) postal orders
(d) sleeping people
Answer :- (a) letters
15. Which types of letters are mentioned in the poem ?
(a) chatty
(b) boring
(c) literary
(d) sad
Answer :- (a) chatty
Comprehension Passages :
Passage – 1
Read the extract given below 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 and the girl next door.
Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb :
The gradient’ against her, but she’s on time.
(I) Where is the Night Mail heading? What does it carry?
Answer :- The Night Mail is moving towards Scotland. It carries letters, cheques, postal orders and other such documents.
(II) ‘Letters for the rich, letters for the poor’. Comment on the significance of this line.
Answer :- The mail train carries letters for the rich as well as poor. It shows that the postal service is non-discriminating.
(III) How does the mail train start its journey? How would you describe it?
Answer :- The mail train starts its journey by a steady climb up the hills. It is a long journey through several regions.
(IV) Describe various regions through which the train passes.
Answer :- The train passes through hills, plains and moor land. It passes through farm houses. It passes by the narrow sea-strips and the industrial area of Glasgow.
(V) How does the poet describe Glasgow area later in the passage?
Answer :- The poet describes Glasgow area where huge buildings, machinery like cranes can be seen lying on open grassy fields.
Passage – 2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
Birds turn their heads as she approaches, Stare from the 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 the bedroom gently shakes.
(I) Which figure of speech is used in Line 1?
Answer :- The figure of speech used in Line 1 is personification. Birds turn their heads, like human beings, to see what was coming.
(II) Comment on the use of phrase ‘blank-faces’ for the train coaches.
Answer :- The train-coaches pulled along by the train are personified as persons with no expression or will of their own. They just follow where they are being lead.
(III) What do sheep-dogs do? What is their purpose?
Answer :- The sheep and dogs run along the track. They want the train to change its course but they fail in their intention.
(IV) How do sleeping people react as the train passes? Why?
Answer :- The sleeping people remain unaware of the passing train. They seem to have become habitual to its arrival.
(V) What kinds of letters are carried by the train ?
Answer :- The train carries many kinds of letters : love letters, official letters, job applications, letters of invitations, letters from relatives, condolence messages, so on and so forth.
Passage – 3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
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 sea lochs
Men long for news.
(I) Where is the train heading? How has its initial journey been described by the poet?
Answer :- The train is heading for Scotland. The train starts its slow but steady ascent as it passes through the hilly area. Though the slope is sharp, the train is on time.
(II) How is Glasgow described in the quoted lires?
Answer :- Glasgow is an industrial area. Huge cranes and furnaces have been set on the grassy lands. It shows how industries are fast coming up, harming the peaceful countryside and agriculture.
(III) Which figure of speech is used in Line 5 here, and why?
Answer :- The figure of speech used in line 5s simile. Huge machinery and furnaces are compared to huge chessmen, pawns in the hands of industrialists in the game of earning more and more money.
(IV) Briefly describe the things carried by the train.
Answer :- The things carried by the train are letters of all kinds, messages, invitations, cheques, postal orders, etc.
(V) What does the poet convey about the waiting people of Scotland later in the context?
Answer :- The poet tells us that the people of Scotland are still asleep, having nightmares and pleasant dreams. When they wake up, they will long for letters carried by the train. They wait for some knock at the door by the postman.
Passage – 4
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
Letters of thanks, letters from banks, Letters of joy from the girl and the boy, Receipted bills and invitations To inspect new stock or visit relations, And applications for situations And timid lovers’ declarations
And gossip, gossip from all that nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
(I) How did the train start its journey? What regions did it cross at night?
Answer :- The train starts climbing hills slowly but steadily. It passes through hills, plains and the moor land.
(II) What does the poet mean by “applications for situations”?
Answer :- ‘Applications for situations’ means applications for jobs.
(III) What is being carried by the train except letters?
Answer :- Besides letters the train carries many things, like cheques, postal orders, receipts and newspapers.
(IV) What kinds of letters is the train carrying?
Answer :- The train is carrying official letters, love letters, letters of invitation, letters from relatives, etc.
(V) How do people wait for the train ?
Answer :- People wait anxiously for the train because all of them long to be remembered by someone somewhere.
Passage – 5
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
Notes from overseas to Hebrides
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring. The cold and official and the heart’s outpouring. Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.
(I) How has the train covered its journey upto Glasgow earlier in the context?
Answer :- The train has passed through various regions before reaching Glasgow. It has passed through hills, plains and moor land.
(II) What is the train carrying?
Answer :- The train is carrying letters of all kinds, cheques, postal orders, newspapers, etc.
(III) What does the line The chatty, the catty, the boring, adoring’, tells us about the content of the letters ?
Answer :- The line tells us that some letters are informal and friendly, some are spiteful, some are simply boring and some written in an adoring matter to some loved ones.
(IV) Which different styles and colours are used to write letters by different people? What do they reveal about them?
Answer :- Letters are written on paper of all colours – pink, violet, white, blue etc. Some of them are typed, some others are hand written with spelling mistakes. Each letter from the way it is written and the paper on which it is written reveals some trait of the letter writer — whether he/she s friendly, formal, careless, spiteful, etc.
(V) What have Glasgow’s people been doing as the train reaches its destination? What do they expect when they wake up?
Answer :- Glasgow’s people are still sleeping as the train reaches its destination. When they wake up, they expect to receive some letter. They anxiously wait for the knock of the postman at their door.
Passage – 6
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
Asleep in granite Aberdeen, They continue their dreams, And shall wake soon and long 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) Describe the initial stage of the train’s night journey.
Answer :- During the night the train starts its journey by a slow but steady climb up the hills. Then it passes by farm-houses in the plains and the moorland. Despite the difficult climb and slow speed, it is still on time.
(II) What has it carried for the people?
Answer :- It has carried all types of letters, cheques, postal orders, newspapers, job applications, official receipts etc.
(III) What have the people been dreaming of? What do they expect when they wake up?
Answer :- The people have been dreaming of horrible monsters or friendly tea parties at famous restaurants — Cranston or Crowford. When they wake up, they expect to receive a letter from someone dear to them.
(IV) Point out the two figures of speech used in the last lines.
Answer :- Rhetorical question is used in the last line. It is used to make a point rather than to get an answer.
(V) In what way does the poet emphasise ‘human connections’?
Answer :- The poet emphasises the importance of human connections — the need to be remembered by someone — by asking a rhetorical question.
