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A-Z POETRY

Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden
“Funeral Blues” is a poem about heartbreak and grief—specifically, about the way that these feelings make people feel isolated from and out of sync with the world around them.

POEM: "Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden

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.

 

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Related Links

W. H. Auden Analysis About the Poet

Videos

The True Meaning of Stop all the Clocks

W.H. Auden's 'Stop all the clocks' may be one of the most recognisable poems ever written, made famous by its inclusion in the 1994 film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. But it started life in a completely different context, written to be set to music by Benjamin Britten for 'The Ascent of F6', a play written collaboratively by Auden and Christopher Isherwood. In this video, I consider the poem's origins, how it has changed and how we should think about it now.

SOURCE: Listening In (2020), posted on YouTube, Duration: 8:44 mins, URL: https://youtu.be/DnunB7nNBKY