"This is the night mail" - WH Auden

In the documentary "Night Mail" (1936), John Grierson narrates the opening scene with WH Auden's poem of the same name, "Night Mail." Auden wrote the poem specifically for the film.

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(No copyright infringment intended. I don't own the content of this video and make no money from it.)

To make the poem's rhythm better sound like a chugging train, Auden's text was slightly altered for the film. Its original version is provided here. This is one of my very favorite poems. I teared up the first time I heard it.

Night Mail
WH Auden

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's against her, but she's on time.

Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder
Shovelling white steam over her shoulder,
Snorting noisily as she passes
Silent miles of wind-bent grasses.

Birds turn their heads as she approaches,
Stare from the bushes at her black-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.

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 lochs
Men long for news.

Letters of thanks, letters from banks,
Letters of joy from girl and 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 the nations,
News circumstantial, news financial,
Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in,
Letters with faces scrawled in the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
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 outpouring,
Clever, stupid, short and long,
The typed and printed and the spelt all wrong.

Thousands are still asleep
Dreaming of terrifying monsters,
Or of friendly tea beside the band at Cranston's or Crawford's:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
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 hear and feel himself forgotten?

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Night
• Mail
• Scene
• WH
• Auden
• Poetry

[ianupton]

This is the chav male crossing the Border, Bringing the giro cheque and the restraining order, Steals from the rich, steals from the poor, The shop at the corner, shags the girl next door. Pulling up roll up joint, a steady high: The police are against him, as hes done time. Past skunk-grass and moorland lager Shovelling white coke over his shoulder, Snorting noisily as he passes Silent miles of non grasses. Birds turn their heads as he approaches, Stare from nimbys at his smoked out roaches.

[jagdpanther1944]

whos says white men can't rap:)

[TheMimifur]

And if Alex has his way, there'll be a big border passport situation.

[danielbarret1025]

Your vid is a favorite on Leste)Dili

[chuckwynn1026]

This video went viral on Kyiv

[BunkyOhare]

Superb, the original and ..best version...

[billgliss]

Fantastic !!! Pure magic!

[lcrip]

almost like 1930s industrial!

[marshcarol]

the poem is heard in the film's final sequence

[shaftsbury94]

wheres me fucking giro?

[jagdpanther1944]

@611unterscharfuhrer

danke! I love watching Wochenshau from 1940's

I love Jagdpanthers as you can see....and Tigers, and Mark 5 Panthers

How come Deutsche build the best kampfwagens???!!!

[611unterscharfuhrer]

@jagdpanther1944  Very good