Class
One of the most prominent themes in the poem is class. Wearing costume jewelry and tacky perms, the wedding-goers are clearly from a lower class. Part of the reason the speaker finds the weddings so embarrassing and "farcical" is because of the class status of the attendees, who are unable to look fully dignified even on such an important day. Though the speaker's class status is never explicitly stated, the condescension with which he views the wedding-goers suggests that he is from a higher class than them.
Country and City
As the train journey progresses, the speaker observes both the peaceful, bucolic countryside and the industrial city, contrasting the two. In general, the countryside is portrayed more favorably, while the city is defined by unseemly sights such as "canals with floatings of industrial froth," an image of spoiled nature. Yet the speaker also juxtaposes the two landscapes in novel ways and sees the legacy of England's countryside in its cities in moments such as the images of London's modern "postal districts packed like squares of wheat," an image which pictures the city through rural imagery.
Marriage and love
Throughout the poem, the speaker takes a cynical attitude towards marriage, seeing weddings as a “farcical” ceremony full of artificial costumes and embarrassing family members. He is also skeptical of the lasting love marriages supposedly honor, defining the wedding night not by romance but by the “religious wound” of the bleeding virgin bride. Though weddings are supposed to be the most special day in one’s life, all the married couples and their families look the same, interchangeable to the speaker. Furthermore, at the end of the poem, Cupid’s arrows transform into rain, suggesting that they hold a darker meaning, as well as a sort of immateriality.
Isolation
The speaker begins the poem on a mostly-empty train and even as it fills with passengers, the ones he notices are all involved in wedding traditions he is not a part of. Yet despite their shared experiences, the numerous wedding parties are also isolated from each other, not contemplating “how their lives would all contain this hour.” Though the speaker observes the world outside, he does not mention seeing any people in the landscape—the rural areas are empty, and the cities industrial and alienating. The speaker alternates between usage of “us” and “we” to describe his fellow travelers, underscoring the precarious community he feels on the train as they unite for a brief moment.
