Why did Auden write Funeral Blues?

The poem was five stanzas long when it first appeared in the 1936 verse play The Ascent of F6, written by Auden and Christopher Isherwood. It was written as a satiric poem of mourning for a political leader. In the play, the poem was put to music by the composer Benjamin Britten and read as a blues work.

What is the poem that starts Stop all the clocks?

‘Funeral Blues’, also known as ‘Stop all the Clocks’, is perhaps now most famous for its recitation in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, but its first audience encountered it as part of a play. Seamus Perry discusses the poem and its place in The Ascent of F6, co-authored by W H Auden and Christopher Isherwood.

What is the message of Funeral Blues?

Death. Death is the subject and main theme of “Funeral Blues.” Through the poem Auden makes a compelling statement about the devastating effects that the death of a loved one has on those left behind. The speaker has just lost someone for whom he/she had a deep love.

What is the rhyme scheme of Funeral Blues?

‘Funeral Blues’ is written in quatrains rhymed aabb: although it is arranged into quatrains or four-line stanzas, its rhyme scheme is rhyming couplets. The metre of the poem is (loosely) iambic pentameter, although there are many variations, with the second line having twelve syllables, for instance.

What are the metaphors in Funeral Blues?

But in a metaphor, we describe one thing by way of another thing. So here, the speaker describes the dead man by saying that he was like a compass for him, and also like every day of the week for him. He provided direction, and filled his time. It’s a more poetic way of saying, “hey, I loved this dude!

What is the purpose of stopping the clocks in Funeral Blues?

“Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks)” Vocabulary The speaker wants the drummers to play quietly out of respect for the speaker’s loss.

What is the poem Stop all the clocks cut off the telephone about?

‘Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone’, by W.H. Auden, appears to be a poem written from the perspective of someone mourning the loss of a lover who died. The poem calls for silence, but also an acknowledgement of a life lived. The poem artfully captures the themes of grief and loss.

How does the poem Stop all the clocks by WH Auden represent grief?

W. H. Auden’s poem, “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” conveys the meaning of overwhelming grief, tragic loss, and an unrelenting pessimism best exemplified in the last lines, “For nothing now can ever come to any good.” The tone of the poem is that of a melancholy sadness enforced by the internal rhyme …