Thesis: The experiences of WH Auden, times of profound love and loss, shaped his poetry. In “Funeral Blues,” one can
see the tremendous power of experience and the lasting impact of a life fully lived.
Biographical Information of WH Auden
A.
WH Auden was born, Wystan Hughes Auden, in 1907 in York, England.
B.
His early life was defined by his private schooling and friendships with other
writers.
1.
He moved to Birmingham during childhood and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford (“WH
Auden” Poets).
2.
As a young man he was influenced by the poetry of Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, as well as
William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Old English verse (“WH Auden” Modern
Poetry).
3.
“At Oxford his precocity as a poet was immediately apparent, and he formed lifelong friendships
with two fellow writers, Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood” (Bloom 3).
C.
Auden wrote from experience, gained from his philosophical studies and world
travels.
1.
He visited Germany, Iceland, and China, served in the Spanish Civil war, and in 1939 moved to
the United States, where he met his lover, Chester Kallman, and became an American citizen (“Life and
Works” para 2).
2.
His own beliefs changed radically between his youthful career in England, when he was “an
ardent advocate of socialism and Freudian psychoanalysis, and his later phase in America, when his
central preoccupation became Christianity and the theology of modern Protestant theologians” ( “Life and
Works” para 4).
3.
A prolific writer, Auden was also a noted playwright, librettist, editor, and essayist (“WH Auden”
Poets).
D.
Auden left behind a poetic legacy unsurpassed by his contemporaries.
1.
He had a remarkable wit, and often mimicked the writing styles of other poets such as Dickinson,
W. B. Yeats, and Henry James (Anderson 12).
2.
“He has been admired for his unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in
nearly every imaginable verse form; the incorporation in his work of popular culture, current events, and
vernacular speech; and also for the vast range of his intellect, which drew easily from an extraordinary
variety of literatures, art forms, social and political theories, and scientific and technical information”
(Anderson 13).
3.
W. H. Auden was a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1954 to 1973, and
divided most of the second half of his life between residences in New York City and Austria (“WH
Auden” Poets).
E.
WH Auden died in Vienna in 1973.
II.
Analysis of “Funeral Blues”
A.
Auden has a unique style & structure.
1.
B.
“Funeral Blues” is an elegy—a solemn, serious poem written in memory of the deceased.
Auden’s use of figurative language lends to his authentic style.
1.
Auden makes use of extended metaphors , saying: “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:/…” (Auden ln.
9-11)
C.
Auden’s somber tone in his poem, “Funeral Blues,” suggests a fear or struggle with
death.
1.
“Auden speaks in the present, using an arresting demanding tone to grab the attention of the
reader. He chooses to mention an instrument that measures time, his second image relates to
communication - or the lack of it. He wishes time to stand to stand still, and for silence” (“Poetry
Analysis” para 3).
2.
“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,/ Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,/
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum” (Auden ln 1-3).
3.
His demands suggest a need to regain control over his helplessness in the face of death: “‘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” (Auden ln. 5-8).
D.
The symbolic meaning of “Funeral Blues” is dominated by the motif of death.
1.
Silence is a motif throughout Auden’s poem—he desperately wishes for silence and for time to
stop or stand still to allow him time to mourn. (“Poetry Analysis” para. 5).
2.
Auden also speaks of “nothingness,” noting that “nothing now can ever come to any good”
(Auden ln 16).
3.
“Indeed, the word ‘nothing’ comes back again to haunt the closing line of the poem, where
Auden’s message seems to say that everything after the loss of his loved one is pointless and meaningless
and nothing worthwhile will ever be fulfilled again” (“Poetry Analysis” para. 6).
E.
The theme of loss and the profound emptiness that stays with a person are a central
idea of Auden’s works.
1.
“Funeral Blues” has themes of time, loss, emotion and control (“Poetry Analysis” para 1).
2.
The lines, “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’” (Auden ln 9-12), return to an almost metaphysical theme, melting time and space together
and blurring boundaries, as in eternity itself.
Outlines due Friday 5/9/14