type of poem: elegy
> lyrical poem/song for funerals
•
S•
feeling blue
musical blues?
> sadness
7. Funeral Blues (PAGE 157-159 in POETRY ANTHOLOGY)
By W H Auden
commanding/
-pause time itself
intructions
i
& traditionally people would stop the clock to signal time of death
1 A Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
rhyme scheme
tone =
commanding/
forceful
2
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
3
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
4
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
S142
5
untidy doesn’t care
about looks
L
hyperbole
Su
3
wants everyone to grieve the loss
onomatopoeia
-
Let the aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
> wants all to know/mourn
assumption that people know who “he” is
>shows/emphasises the importance of his death
7
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
L
tone = forceful
irritation
also melancholic
and cynical
even music is not wanted
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
person was his
“compass” - he 9
feels lost/
10
directionless
Se
> adding to desire for silence (no playfulness allowed)
6
formal sign/
attire for 8
deceased
tone = nostalgic
> wants silence and to be left alone (doesn’t want to explain to anyone)
> we find them everywhere
> public show of the death
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
↳ mourning colours
He was my North, my South, my East and West, >repetition of ‘my’ emphasises his possessiveness/
·
My working week and my Sunday rest,
11
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
12
I thought that love would last forever:O I was wrong.
closeness with significant other
> person was his whole world
>
part of speakers everyday life (together all the time)
anti-climactic L
& brings own voice in (personal)
•
difficulty accepting this loss
13
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
14
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
15
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
16
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
Questions:
> commands
he wants even nature/enormous symbolic elements to
> be replaced with darkness
> demanding the impossible
> pessimistic - shows his despair
3.1. Refer to line 1. What does this request tell us about how the speaker is
feeling?
(2)
3.2. Identify and account for (give a reason) the rhyme scheme of this poem.
(2)
3.3. Refer to stanza 2. Discuss how the diction in this stanza depicts how the
speaker wants to mourn the loss of their beloved.
(3)
3.4. Refer to stanza 3. What does this stanza reveal about the relationship
between the speaker and his loved one? Explain your answer by referring
to specific evidence from stanza 3.
(3)
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