This is the Email

Night Mail
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, 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 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 a bedroom gently shakes.

Dawn freshens, Her climb is done.
Down towards Glasgow she descends,
Towards the steam tugs yelping down a glade of cranes
Towards the fields of apparatus, the furnaces
Set on the dark plain like gigantic chessmen.
All Scotland waits for her:
In dark glens, beside 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 to 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 on the margin,
Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts,
Letters to Scotland from the South of France,
Letters of condolence to Highlands and Lowlands
Written on paper of every hue,
The pink, the violet, the white and the blue,
The chatty, the catty, the boring, the 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.

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

Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

The following poems are a collection from 6P.

We have explored the poetic features used within Auden's Nightmail such as rhythm, rhyme, assonance and simile.

Our poems look to recreate the rhythm, which is so distinctive in the original. In some cases we show how we might choose to make a conscious change in this rhythm when we explore a different emotion or idea.

We hope you enjoy our anthology.

6P

Email by BB

This is the Email crossing the world
Bringing your messages while you’re curled
Up on your sofa or tucked up in bed
It sits in your inbox remaining unread

From friends, family, school or the boss
Hoping you’re having good times, best wishes from the most
Good luck, happy birthday, maybe even a promotion
Long lost friends, such great emotions!

Anytime, any day, any minute and any hour
Messages around the world in an instant, what power

Out and about whether you’re in or not
Emails get to you even when you’re on the trot

On your phone, tablet or laptop
You might get a message from your favourite shop

‘Please transfer money’, ‘I have millions for you’
Is it spam? Is it phishing? Is any of it true?

Constant bombardment every minute of the day
Why can’t we go back to the old fashioned way

Mail me a card, mail me a letter
Those were the days, surely post is better?

The buzzing and the pings all turned off
As the switch clicks
Birds are chirping
The trees are gently swaying
Is it better to turn it off
The sun is shining
The clouds are slowly moving
The steam is trickling
The boats are chugging along
Peace is here
Finally at last
The buzzing and the pings al turned off
It is better to turn things off

This is the email crossing the border
Telling amazon they’ve got an order

Down the satellite line the messages zing
You’ve got a message ping ping ping

Email isn’t the only way to connect
We have facetime and snapchat and on the screen they project

When u get a email it can cause all emotion
But at least you're happy to get a email saying u got a promotion

I know it’s a good way to keep in touch
But when they don’t stop texting it just gets too much

The feelings of joy, sadness, grief and also stress
If u see something bad it could leave you in a mess

Emails from family, friends, school and work
If someone sends u something annoying u might call them a jerk

All my friends made a group chat but didn’t invite me
I start to cry but my mum calls me for my tea

My phone starts to glitch it’s on 1%
I jump for my charger lead
But it’s too late :(
But thats okay everyone needs a break
From the constant pinging that my phone makes
So take a break go outside play around
Compared to the pinging its a whole new sound

by IW

The Email by Tina

This is the email, winging its way
From web string to web string, through night through day

Where invoice and order pass e-codes in space
The comes the memo for zoom: face to facwe

Emails from work, from home and the spams
Emails from government and warnings of scams

A message of love that makes your heart light
The inbox keeps filling with no end in sight

The buffer ring slowly circles
The loading takes hours it seems
When signals are lost, time is like a never ending tunnel

Silent and still
Fingers flex while waiting and poised
To dance on the keyboard and hit the return
Eyes glued to the screen as life passes by

Ping! Goes the iphone, just after midnight
A blurry-eyed focus on L.E.D light

A messaging system that never does sleep
Today's generation; a slave to the beep

THE E-MAIL by EN

This is the email crossing the border,
We’re all texting now that’s the order

Facetiming, zooming, skyping gosh,
This internet stuff is very posh

SEND traveling down the wires,
People chatting about raging fires

The animals are sleeping, dreaming sweetly,
The boss is typing an email neatly

Grandma struggles with all this technology,
Says she needs a degree in ‘email-ology’

Tap tap tapping on the keys,
This type of mouse doesn't eat cheese

Staring at a screen all day,
Surely isn't good for your brain

No more night mail that's in the past,
Because with texting we’re having a blast

But we all need a break sometimes
From the ping ping pinging of social media
So take a break why don’t ya
Enjoy life and the world

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

The E-mail by LH

This is the e-mail crossing the cloud
We’re sending these emails all around

They go in a flash
And come back down in a dash

A ping when it comes in day or at night
Sometimes when we read them they give us a fright

They can fill you with pleasure
When they come from someone you treasure

Or an e-mail from your boss
With a promotion loss

Which makes you feel annoyed
Because you were highly employed

They come at a speed
But most you don’t need

Sometimes they come like a train down the track
Oh how I wish I could send some of them back

These e-mails are good for communication
But sometimes it’s nice to receive a letter
E-mails are also good for booking confirmations
And shopping too but we must not forget the real world
Exists and there are many adventures outside of your
Home waiting for you.

This‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌email‌ ‌
‌
This‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌email‌ ‌crossing‌ ‌the‌ ‌border‌ ‌
Filling‌ ‌the‌ ‌inbox,now‌ ‌thats‌ ‌the‌ ‌order‌ ‌
‌
The‌ ‌mouse‌ ‌clicks‌ ‌and‌ ‌sends‌ ‌the‌ ‌information‌ ‌
To‌ ‌the‌ ‌worded‌ ‌station‌ ‌
‌

Zooming‌ ‌across‌ ‌the‌ ‌invisible‌ ‌line‌ ‌ ‌
Let's‌ ‌hope‌ ‌it‌ ‌gets‌ ‌there‌ ‌before‌ ‌dinner‌ ‌time‌ ‌
‌
A‌ ‌message‌ ‌to‌ ‌my‌ ‌friend,to‌ ‌say‌ ‌hi‌ ‌
I‌ ‌wait‌ ‌patiently‌ ‌for‌ ‌his‌ ‌reply‌ ‌
‌
I‌ ‌need‌ ‌to‌ ‌know‌ ‌if‌ ‌you‌ ‌want‌ ‌to‌ ‌meet‌ ‌up‌ ‌outside‌ ‌
I‌ ‌am‌ ‌bored‌ ‌of‌ ‌being‌ ‌kept‌ ‌inside‌ ‌
‌
Ping!‌ ‌There‌ ‌is‌ ‌my‌ ‌reply‌ ‌
Yes‌ ‌you‌ ‌want‌ ‌to‌ ‌meet,see‌ ‌you‌ ‌later‌ ‌mum‌ ‌bye‌ ‌
‌
What‌ ‌a‌ ‌joyful‌ ‌day,all‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌notifications‌ ‌are‌ ‌silent‌ ‌
Until‌ ‌tomorrow‌ ‌when‌ ‌i‌ ‌go‌ ‌out‌ ‌and‌ ‌play‌ ‌ ‌
Now‌ ‌i‌ ‌can‌ ‌relax‌ ‌and‌ ‌watch‌ ‌a‌ ‌movie‌ ‌ ‌
But‌ ‌ping!‌ ‌A‌ ‌notification‌ ‌for‌ ‌school‌ ‌it‌ ‌said‌ ‌
School‌ ‌is‌ ‌called‌ ‌off‌ ‌because‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌water‌ ‌pipes‌ ‌ ‌

This‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌email‌ by SM