Funeral Blues By W.H. Auden

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

First written for a play
Saturical towards melodramatic nature of public love and grief
Ausen’s poems are rarely personal/ intimate.

Question 2

Form

Answer 2

Elegy - public poem written to express loss and grief
Lament on grief

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

4 quatrains
Written in rhyming couplets
Loose iambic pentameter

Question 4

Tone

Answer 4

• vert deep sad tone (hopeless)
• deep desperation
• hyperbolic

Question 5

Themes

Answer 5

Death
Love
Grief
Loss

Question 6

Summary/ message

Answer 6

Th peotic voice grieves the loss of a person he loved. He explores the desperation that comes with losing a person you love and thus explores themes such as death, grief, loss and love

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Imperatives: sense of immediacy - the world needs to stop for the funeral and mark the passing (emphasises importance of the lost love)
Present tense: puts the reader in the moment and emotion - creates sympathy
He uses SYMBOLS to shows the impact of grief on him
E.g the clock: he wants time to stop so everyone can mourn for him and feel what he feels, he wants communication to stop etc
Wants music to stop - replace it witg solemnity and silence
Juicy adjective choice: suggests an enjoyability to it - he wants all joy and happiness to stop for his lost love
‘Let the mourners come’ shows his desire for public grief

Question 8

Let the 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.

Answer 8

Personification of aeroplanes and verb word choice ‘moaning’: reflects the poetic voice’s grief - even the planes are mourning with him (shows the magnitude of his grief)
Circling: continuous element - never-ending sadness
The message of the sky: hyperbolized public procession - wants the whole world to see
Capitalization: highlights importnce of the loss
‘Public doves’ hyperbolized request for public recognition - mocking them?
‘Black’ symbolizes grief and mourning

Question 9

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.

Answer 9

Change of tense and tone: from public to private grief (reflecting on the past)
Repetition of possessive pronoun (my): he belonged to him - meant the world for him
Compass directions p: the person gave him purpose and direction (significance)
‘My working week…’ he was his motivation and a crucial part of his life
The nouns of antithesis: shows the crucialness since without one there isnt the other - this person represented his every moment (without this person he doesnt feel alive)
Caesura: allows final phrase to have more impact - shows his disappointment.

Question 10

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.

Answer 10

He doesnt want light anymore - doesnt see a point to optimism and goodness
The imperatives relate to household chores, which juxtapose essential parts of the world (moon, sun) shows the importance of him - the universe is pointless and small/ meaningless
Last line: everything that has meaning to him is taken away from him - life has no sense/meaningless