Funeral Blues

Question 1

Title

Answer 1

Funeral blues, also known as “Stop all the clocks”, directly reveals the theme of the immensity of grief with both “funeral” and “blue”, setting up a heart-breaking tone.

Question 2

The time period context of the poem

Answer 2

The poem was written by Auden in the 1930s where British people were unsatisfied towards their political leaders because of the failure of appeasement

Question 3

Theme

Answer 3

1. Grief
2. Love
3. Imperialism
4. Funeral
5. Nature vs. Human

Question 4

Structure

Answer 4

The author used quatrain with a rhyme scheme of “aabb”. This is a typical structure for elegy, which can be linked to the theme of tragic love.

Question 5

Interpretations in different contexts

Answer 5

1. A tear jerking hollywood elegy
2. A bittersweet subversion of classical notions of tragic lovers
3. A biting satire of British Imperialism and the death of political figures
4. A critique of funeral pomp and grandeur

Question 6

The most famous context

Answer 6

A romance film in 1994, Four weddings and a Funeral, homosexual love

Question 7

“Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum”

Answer 7

It broke the pattern of Iambic Pentameter on the previous line, lets reader focus more on the word itself

Question 8

“He was my north, my south, my east, and west, my morning week and my Sunday rest”

Answer 8

The use of direction and world imagery here highlighted that the deceased one is very important to the poet, or it could represent the control of political figure

Question 9

“The stars are not wanted now.”

Answer 9

“Stars” has a connotation of hope (linking to the navigation of the past). By claiming “not wanted now”, it may be referring to the repair and the loss of hope.

Question 10

“Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves”

Answer 10

This image is very strange and it can be criticizing and mocking the funeral, since public doves never wear crepe bows. However it could also symbolize peace and purity because in some places they do release pigeons during funerals

Question 11

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone”

Answer 11

This highlights the death because time had stopped for the poet due to his sorrow. The poet feels nothing matters anymore including time. It might also represent that he wants quietness after the death of his loved one.

Question 12

“The sun is dismantled.”

Answer 12

Similar to the title of “sun never sets”, the celestial imagery might be alluding to the ironic aspect of empires. “Dismantled” juxtaposes with how empires are overly confident about themselves, while their arrogance led them to have the thought of how they have the power to manipulate the change of nature, which is substantiated by “[pouring away the ocean]” and “[sweeping] up the wood”