Funeral Blues

W. H. Auden
 Funeral Blues
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
W.H. Auden
 W.H. Auden

▪ Born 21 February 1907, died 29 September 1973)

▪ An English poet, who later became an American citizen.
▪ He is best known for love poems such as "Funeral Blues," poems on
political and social themes, poems on cultural and psychological
themes and poems on religious themes.
▪ He was born in York, grew up in and near Birmingham in a
professional middle-class family.
▪ He attended English independent (or public) schools and studied
English at Christ Church, Oxford
 W.H. Auden

▪ After a few months in Berlin in 1928–29 he spent five years (1930–35)

teaching in English public schools, then travelled to Iceland and China
in order to write books about his journeys.
▪ In 1939 he moved to the United States and became an American
citizen in 1946.
▪ He taught from 1941 to 1945 in American universities, followed by
occasional visiting professorships in the 1950’s.
▪ From 1947 to 1957 he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia
(Italy); from 1958 until the end of his life he wintered in New York (in
Oxford in 1972–73) and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria.
 Summary:

▪ This is in the style of a classical elegy, though it features informal language and objects of
everyday life such as a telephone.
▪ This mingling, writes one scholar,
– “is a powerful modernist move, one which suggests that only by embracing the modern
world can art come to terms with the complexities of human experience.”
▪ The poem appears from the perspective of a man (seemingly the poet himself) deeply
mourning the loss of a lover who has died.
▪ The first two stanzas are about the poet’s desire for the public to acknowledge this death.
▪ The final two stanzas are about his own private reaction to it.
▪ He begins by calling for silence from the everyday objects of life—the telephone and the
clocks—and the pianos, drums, and animals nearby.
 Summary:

▪ He doesn’t just want quiet, however; he wants his loss writ large.
▪ He wants the life of his lover—seemingly a normal, average man—to be
proclaimed to the world as noble and valuable.
▪ He wants airplanes to write the message “He Is Dead” in the sky, crepe bows
around doves, and traffic policemen wearing black gloves.
▪ What seems unbearable to him is the thought that this man’s passing from
life to death will be unmarked by anyone other than the poet.
▪ The poem ‘Funeral Blues’ is a lament for a friend.
▪ ‘Blues’ is an American word for a sad song. Blue is a colour that we
associate with sadness.
 Stanza One:
Easily accessible imagery, the
use of modern everyday
objects in the formal setting of
the elegy.
A series of
commands First three
(imperatives) Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, lines build
directing the Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, tension –
world to cease Silence the pianos and with muffled drum climax on
activity and fourth line
attend to this Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
death
The discourse
of the funeral.
Wants/ needs the world
to acknowledge this
death with respect
(silence)
 Stanza Two

Capital “H” denotes

Look at the word choice
position of importance of
and how it fits in within
the context of the poem. the deceased to the poet.

Begins with Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

image of Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
sky-writing; Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
the poet wants
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
the world to
know about
“Crepe bows… public doves” – wants
this death.
public ceremony. (Continued in “…black
cotton gloves”)
Poet wants visible commemoration
 Repetition of “my” The list of ways in which he
indicates how important Stanza Three belonged to the poet indicate the
the deceased was to the importance to the poet – he was
poet. Compass-points – indicates EVERYTHING to him.
that the deceased meant the
The lover defines whole world
the poet’s sense Contrast “working”/
of time; contrast He was my North, my South, my East and West, “rest” – He was
“noon”/ central to the poet
“midnight” My working week and my Sunday rest, both when working
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; and not.
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
Line twelve is a contrast of Caesura at the Human speech was
romantic falsehood with colon – places defined through the
unpleasant truth. emphasis on the Tension broken by
short, simple sentence. lover: contrast
“I thought love would last second part of the “speech”/ “song”
brutal contrast. “I was wrong”. This is
forever” – simple, romantic an anti-climax to the
statement. Cliché? romantic idea, showing
Enjambment creates
sense of list the poet’s
constantly expanding disappointment.
and rolling on.
 Whole stanza creates Stanza Four
powerful sense of the
loss of meaning to the
poet’s life. “stars” – “put out every one” –
romantic symbols poet is asking the
(also of time) – impossible –
“not wanted”. hyperbole to emphasis
Poet returns to
imperatives The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, new sense of futility/
(commands) pessimism.
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Requests for the
“pour away the
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; impossible continue:
ocean”/ “sweep up For nothing now can ever come to any good. “pack up the
the wood” – moon”/ “dismantle
continues asking for Final line is simple and harsh – shows the sun” – these are
the impossible. romantic symbols –
the pessimism of the grieving poet. poet has no interest
“oceans” and End-stopped to create a sense of finality;
“wood” represent in love anymore.
of truth?
the land and the sea
– he wants it all to
disappear.
 Questions:

1. To whom does the speaker address his poem? Refer to the poem for proof.
What's the effect of this point of view? (4)
2. What is the effect of all of the poem's hyperbole? Does it make the
speaker's grief seem more or less intense? Give reasons for your answers.
(4)
3. Why does the speaker make so many references to the natural world?
What's the effect of all the references to the moon and stars, etc.? (4)
4. What does the word “blues” refer to? (2)
5. Quote all the words in the poem that may be linked to the finality of death.
(4)
6. What does the clock represent, Why does the poet use this image? (3)
 Questions:

7. What does the telephone represent? (2)

8. Who must know that someone close to the poet has died? Justify
your response. (3)
9. How must the city react? (2)
10. How important was this person according to stanza 3? Give reasons
and quotes from the poem to justify your answer. (4)
11. According to the poet, why can love not last forever? (2)
12. How does the poet feel in the last stanza, does his tone change during
the poem? (3)