Night Mail, by WH Auden

Question 1

This is the night mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order.

Answer 1

Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.

Question 2

Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.

Answer 2

Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time.

Question 3

Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but she’s on time.

Answer 3

Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,

Question 4

Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,

Answer 4

Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Question 5

Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Answer 5

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.

Question 6

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from bushes at her blank-faced coaches.

Answer 6

Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.

Question 7

Sheep-dogs cannot turn her course;
They slumber on with paws across.

Answer 7

In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.

Question 8

In the farm she passes no one wakes,
But a jug in a bedroom gently shakes.

Answer 8

Dawn freshens, Her climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends,

Question 9

Towards the steam tugs yelping down a glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces

Answer 9

Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:

Question 10

Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:

Answer 10

In dark glens, beside pale-green lochs
Men long for news.

Question 11

In dark glens, beside pale-green lochs
Men long for news.

Answer 11

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,

Question 12

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and boy,

Answer 12

Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,

Question 13

Receipted bills and invitations
To inspect new stock or to visit relations,

Answer 13

And applications for situations,
And timid lovers’ declarations,

Question 14

And applications for situations,
And timid lovers’ declarations,

Answer 14

And gossip, gossip from all the nations, News circumstantial, news financial,

Question 15

And gossip, gossip from all the nations, News circumstantial, news financial,

Answer 15

Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled on the margin,

Question 16

Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled on the margin,

Answer 16

Letters from uncles, cousins and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,

Question 17

Letters from uncles, cousins and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,

Answer 17

Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands,
Written on paper of every hue,

Question 18

Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands,
Written on paper of every hue,

Answer 18

The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,

Question 19

The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,

Answer 19

The chatty, the catty, the boring, the adoring,
The cold and official and the heart’s outpouring,

Question 20

The chatty, the catty, the boring, the adoring,
The cold and official and the heart’s outpouring,

Answer 20

Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Question 21

Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and the printed and the spelt all wrong.

Answer 21

Thousands are still asleep,
Dreaming of terrifying monsters
Or of friendly tea beside the band in Cranston’s or Crawford’s: