On The Train

1. On The Train by Gillian Clarke

2. On the Train Cradled through England between flooded fields rocking, rocking the rails, my headphones on, the black box of my Walkman on the table. Hot tea trembles in its plastic cup. I’m thinking of you waking in our bed thinking of me on the train. The radio speaks in the suburbs, in commuter towns, in cars unloading children at school gates, is silenced in dark parkways down the line before locks click and footprints track the frost and trains slide out of stations in the dawn dreaming their way towards the blazing bone–ship. The Vodaphone you are calling may have been switched off. Please call later. And calling later, calling later their phones ring in the rubble and in the rubble of suburban kitchens the wolves howl into silent telephones. I phone. No answer. Where are you now? The train moves homewards through the morning. Tonight I’ll be home safe, but talk to me, please. Pick up the phone. Today I’m tolerant of mobiles. Let them say it. I’ll say it too. Darling, I’m on the train The poem was written by Clarke as a response to the Paddington rail crash. The poet is on a train and she thinks of her husband waking up imagining her on a train. She listens to the radio and imagines people going to work/school on the train; all seems normal until the words “blazing bone-ship”. What might this mean? She uses everyday language to stress the unanswered phones of the dead. The poet wants to call home to let them know she’s safe and to feel safe herself. Today she isn’t annoyed by mobile phones.

3. The train is presented as carrying her safely between the ‘flooded fields’ and when this image of safety is disrupted it is all the more powerful. Opening gives a feeling of safety. Why does ‘cradled’ have this effect? Cradled through England between flooded fields rocking, rocking the rails, my headphones on, the black box of my Walkman on the table. Hot tea trembles in its plastic cup. I’m thinking of you waking in our bed thinking of me on the train. Alliteration mirrors the motion of the train and reinforces the comforting, cradling feel of the train Literal description of the walkman but figuratively it evokes the image of a flight recorder used to study plane disasters The you referred to here is Clarke’s husband but this is never specified allowing us to read it as an address to everyone who can share in this experience

4. The central image of the poem comes at the end of this stanza but is in direct contrast to the rest of the stanza The radio is personified as speaking to the suburbs, spreading the bad news. The image recalls Clarke sitting on the train hearing news of the Paddington train crash Clarke lists the everyday activities: kids off to school; people catching the train to work The radio speaks in the suburbs, in commuter towns, in cars unloading children at school gates, is silenced in dark parkways down the line before locks click and footprints track the frost and trains slide out of stations in the dawn dreaming their way towards the blazing bone–ship. “dreaming their way to” work is what we expect following the normal descriptions that precede the final line What is the blazing bone-ship literally? The coach following the crash was on fire with an unknown number of dead in it. Clarke says, “I was thinking of the burning funeral ships the Celts used to push out to sea, containing the bodies of their heroes. I wanted to suggest something noble, tragic, heroic, because real people would be grieving, and deserved no less than the dignity of the noblest image I could conjure.”

5. The poet makes a call but the (mobile) phone she is ringing is turned off. She is advised to call later. The poet uses iambic metre throughout the poem except for this point. What effect does the break in the metre have? The image of rubble is repeated metaphorically as the rubble of pain left in ‘suburban kitchens’ the traditional heart of the home. It evokes feelings of the broken hearts left behind by the crash. The poet imagines the phones of other people unable to answer them as they lie dead in the literal rubble of the crash. The Vodaphone you are calling may have been switched off. Please call later. And calling later, calling later their phones ring in the rubble and in the rubble of suburban kitchens the wolves howl into silent telephones. “wolves” howling could be the sounds of the sirens at the crash site. The image also links to danger and could suggest the screeching of metal as the train crashed.

6. Short sentences give a sense of the ‘punctuated’ waiting as the phone rings. The question is for her husband but equally could apply to the questions of anxious callers trying to reach people who were on the train This idea links to the earlier description of people going about their normal day. It contrasts with the trains making their way towards the “blazing bone-ship” The poet wants to be comforted in the same way that people want their loved ones to answer and comfort them. The plea is the same for both of them. I phone. No answer. Where are you now? The train moves homewards through the morning. Tonight I’ll be home safe, but talk to me, please. Pick up the phone. Today I’m tolerant of mobiles. Let them say it. I’ll say it too. Darling, I’m on the train She admits that today she will be tolerant of the normally annoying mobile phones and she stresses the importance, on this day, of the cliché “I’m on the train” Clarke says, “At the time of the train crash the mobile phone’s favourite cliché, ‘I’m on the train’, was suddenly the most important message in the world.”

7. Review • What is this poem about? Love, anxiety, disaster? • In what sense can this poem apply to all disasters? • How does Clarke use everyday objects and images to make the message more powerful? • What do we learn about the speaker in this poem? • Pick out the key images used in this poem and explain their effect on the reader.

8. Comparisons • Mid-term Break: • Both poems deal with loss • One is incredibly personal whereas the other is a response to wider world events • We see family as a comfort in both although in Heaney’s the comfort is missing • • On My First Sonne– This poem concerns the loss of a child and has been written to make sense of what has happened; • it’s more positive than ‘Mid-Term Break. • Although less specific, On the Train is Clarke’s attempt to make sense of the events she hears on the radio Are there any other comparisons to be made? Think of themes, language and content